Gods Among Us
by Dev's Inferno
Summary: What if Luffy was the son of Dragon and a Goddess? Warning Rape, violence, and profanity. Read only if you have the stomach for it. "Alive"/Sabo, Alive/Ace, Demigod/Luffy, Vampire-ish/Luffy, Smart/Luffy, Dark/Luffy, OOC/Luffy,
1. In the beginning

**CHAPTER 1.**

**In The Beginning**

Garp looked down in wonderment at the young fresh kiss of life he held in his large hands. The baby gave out a small yawn and looked into the marines unique onyx eyes with it's own that mirrored the war hero's.

No. . . Not_ it. He. _Him. His grandson.

Monkey D Luffy.

" It's, not. . . I can't-impossible." But how on earth could he say that? The proof was literally right in front of him. Looking around the bar to the people watching in dumbstruck shock, he wanted someone to clarify what was happening. But everyone's mouths were to busy hugging the floor to even speak. Including his best friend and fellow marine Sengoku, who looked like someone destroyed marineford. Or shaved off his Afro.

Regaining (some part) of his composure, Garp looked at the small old woman who just moments ago interrupted his drinking and brought in this child. Telling him his asshole son, had a god damn son!

Impossible! Ludicrous! Poppycock!

And yet. . .

Undeniable. The trade mark onyx eyes, and the will of D inheritance Garp felt from the baby, he once felt from his own son when he was a newborn. Luffy was his grandson. Looking back at the old woman he just starred. The four foot three woman stared back with her strange green eyes, which were the only things one could see of her face. Wrapped from head to toe in a strange gold robe with strange deigns decorating the plush silk, there was a air of authority about her which seemed off with the appearance.

Garp could only tell she was elderly from the ancient look in her eyes, and the slight show of wrinkles around them. Other than that, everything else of the old lady was concealed.

" The boy is of your blood. War hero." She spoke with an accent the like of which he never heard before. Which was strange because he had been to ever country on the planet. But that wasn't important right now. With thousands of thoughts popping into his skull he needed a moment to get his barrings. Then again, he might need a few years.

" The mother?" Was all Garp could muster to say. The tiny woman just shook her head. Garp closed his eyes, cursed, then opened them again. Maternal death. And a pat of him wanted to meet the woman who could put a leash on his criminal son.

Dragon. . ._ Damn you boy_, Garp needed to give his son the fist of love next time he saw him. " Did my boy send you?"

" The mother."

" And you just happened to know I'd be here?"

The old lady laughed, " I have my ways." She said cryptically. Garp should have been suspicious of her intentions, but the way the old woman's eyes kept going back to his grandsons, and the unconditional love those green orbs held, Garp couldn't help but trust her.

Turning to Sengoku, who's facial expression hadn't changed in the least, the war hero smile brightly. " Hey Sen! I have a Grandson! HAHAHAHA!" Everyone in the bar except for the old woman fell down comically. Disbelief flashed in the woman's eyes.

Baby Luffy began to squeal and laugh as his grandpa tickled his stomach. " That right boy, we D men aren't silent sissy's. Make noise! You'll make a great Marine! Oh yes you will. Yes you-"

" GARP!" Sengoku yelled, jumping up from the ground. Said marine picked his ear that was just used as a damn microphone.

" Sheesh. A little loud aren't we Sen?" The glasses wearing man began to shake in rage, as if he was about to go into his zoan devil fruit mode.

" How are you okay with this!?"

" Well he is my grandson."

" Who you didn't know about until two minutes ago! What the hell man!? Have you finally lost your mind!?"

" Who cares. I have my grandson so its all right." He gave the other marine his famous smile. Sengoku looked about ready to punch his teeth out.

" And you!" Sengoku exclaimed, turning to the old woman. The man's rage diminished when they notice she was no longer in the bar. " What the. . ." Garp thought the same thing. Both men were the most surprised in the whole bar. They had powerful observation Haki, some of the best in the marines and they hadn't picked up her movements. Now that they think about it, they never felt her come into the bar either.

Both marines ran out of the bar, Luffy in Garp's arms. She wasn't outside either. After minutes of surveying the area they came up with nothing, even with observation haki. They went back into the bar to keep the baby from the cold winds.

Little did they know, the old woman wasn't to far. Watching the tall men head back into the bar, she sighed at the events that transpired. But it was to be expected. Even the gods had rules they needed to follow, and the baby was the law breaker that gotten his mother into trouble. As a rule the Egyptian gods never are to mate with humans. But one night of reckless foolish passion would lead to a domino effect of later tragedies.

She could feel it.

_Damn you Hathor. _She cursed the goddess in every ancient language the old woman knew. How could Hathor have been so stupid? And now, she had to suffer for it. But that wasn't the old woman's concerns.

Luffy was.

By the curse of Set, Luffy's life would be one no should have to suffer. That boy will bathe in agony and walk the path of untold horrors until the day the Egyptian gods found and killed him. No. . . they wouldn't kill him. Not at first. They will torture him, destroy all of his sanity, and then they will put him down.

But for now, they will search. With the boys powers sealed away from the world, no deity would ever find out his origins. But it was because of that same seal that is- ironically- meant for protection, that Set's curse will burn his very soul. Until his powers are unlocked. He will no nothing but pain.

Son of the most wanted man in the world was a heavy burden to carry as it was. The boy would be looked down upon by humans. Being a demi-god? He will be hated by all. The very world will be out for his blood. Her next words were spoken with truth, and nothing but.

" May you find peace child-" she spoke with sorrow evident in her voice. A tear escaped her eyes. " Because you will have to go to war."

_**Several years later**_

If Shanks had a nickle for every time people looked at him in fear when they saw that he was a pirate, he could feed his crew for life. Holding his hands up in surrender at the people of Foosha Village, and chuckled. " People of Foosha Village, we mean you no harm. I'm Red haired shanks of the red haired pirates."

An old man stepped up from the crowd of hundreds. He held a walking stick and wore simple clothing, with oval glasses, and had a thick mustache and a goatee. The suspicion was plain in his eyes. Not a big fan of pirate obviously.

" I am mayor of this village. Woop Slap. Why have you come here pirate?"

" My crew and I merely needed to dock for a while and are in need of a bar if you guys have one." The rest of the red hair pirates laughed loudly. Shanks took out his wallet from his pocket and pulled out fifty thousands worth of belly bills. " Don't worry we'll pay."

A very young woman stepped our from the crown and stood next to Woop Slap. Very pretty. With green hair and dark brown hair. Not that Shanks was into minors. He wasn't a pedophile. The Yonko was surprise when he looked into her eyes, and saw that they held no judgement, fear, or even nervousness. Only a rare source of kindness that made the captain smile, and bow in respect.

" Hello madam."

The girl giggled and bowed back politely. " Hello . If its a bar you are looking for, my family owns one. I'll be happy to serve all of you."

From behind him his crew cheered.

" Angel!"

"Booze!"

" Thank the Gods!"

" Why can't you be as polite as her captain!?"

" Yeah!"

" True!"

" Asshole!"

" Bastard!"

" WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" Shanks yelled at his crew, teeth as sharp as daggers and flames shooting out of his eyes. Turning back to the young girl he composed himself. " And please madam. Drop the 'Mr', just Shanks is fine. And we be happy if you served us."

Laughing at the pirates antics she led them past the frightened villagers to the Partys bar. The girl ignored the mayor protests, " And please Shanks, call me Makino." The nice simple layout of the bar was refreshing to Shanks. Being a powerful wealthy pirate, he's been to some pretty extravagant eatery's as well as some shady rundown messed up bars. Most of the furniture was made of plain oak wood. The walls made of sturdy stone painted over with light green. Support beams decorated with boating equipment, giving it a homey sense.

Plain yet elegant. Cozy and quiet. Until the pirates started drinking. Then it was a god damn party!

" DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!" Shanks downed a whole barrel of rum with his crew cheering him on. When he was done he threw the barrel and yelled in victory. To his left sitting at the bar with him was his first mate Benn Beckman- shaking his head, but a small smile on his face. To his right Yasopp looked about ready to pass out.

_Light weight, _Shanks thought. The sniper only had two barrels for gods sake. Laughing, he pointed at the sniper and looked at their generous bartender. " Makino! bring this fifteen year old sissy drinker a glass of water! He isn't man enough for any more liquor!"

" Screw-_Hiccup_!-You captain!" Everyone laughed. The laughter grew when Makino actually brought him a glass of water.

" I love this girl!" Shanks down a fresh cup of whiskey and slumped down into his seat. " Tell me Makino. Aren't you a little young to be a bartender?"

She brought out another round of rum and explained. " Well my parents have no problem with it. They know I don't drink or anything." The red haired pirate nodded in approval. Call him old fashion but he believed a girl should be a woman before she started drinking. Chivalry was not truly dead. Shanks was about to challenge Benn to a drinking contest, but the flapping of the doors opening and the entire bar going silent made the Yonko pause.

Makino gasped. Shanks looked to the source of the disturbance and his eyes went wide.

A little kid, no older then six or seven, come into Partys bruised and bloody to the point you could barley make out his face. His shirt was torn apart and one of his pants legs were missing. But that wasn't what shot the captain. Onyx eyes- a rarity in the sea- was filled with such pain and anguish, self loathing for which the likes the pirate had never seen before in _anyone_, let alone a child.

" Luffy!" Makino ran from behind the bar with a case of medical supplies to the boy. " Gods, Luffy! It happened again!"

Again? Shanks and Benn looked to each other. Benn already knew what his captain was thinking, seeing the anger building up in his captains eyes. All of the crew knew their captains feelings towards child abuse. Despite that, he was a rational person, so the Yonko stayed seated and watched.

" Gods, these are worse than before! Stay still Luffy, I'm going to wrap them up." The pirates watched as the bartenders wiped the blood from the boys body, then disinfect and wrap up the cuts and bruises.

The boy stared at the far-wall and nothing else. He was trying to ignore everyone else in the bar. The boy walked past Makino when she finished and sat at the bar in the seat next to Yasopp. The bar remained quiet.

Shanks frowned. Tapping his sniper on the shoulder he gave Yasopp a look. With a node they switched seats. Makino was back behind the bar serving Luffy juice. When he grabbed the large cup, he spoke. " Thank you." Shanks flinched when he heard the quiet croak of the boys voice. He sounded dehydrated, and creaky. Was his voice box smashed?

When the boy noticed Shanks looking at him he turned to the captain. Shanks gave him a bright smile, " Hello." The boy just starred at him. Not what Shanks was expecting. The pain left those onyx eyes. They went blank like a piece of plain paper. He continued. " My name is Shanks. Whats yours?"

" Luffy."

" Nice to meet you Luffy."

Makino brought him a mug of ale. The green haired girl looked in worry and curiosity. When Luffy gave his attention to the juice he held, he asked Makino about him.

" Does this happen often?" He whispered, making sure not to be heard by Luffy.

" It does. We don't how he gets like this. At first we thought it was some of the villagers who were afraid of him, but we noticed strange bite marks on him, so we think it must be some of the forest carnivores. You see, Luffy's home is deep in the forest, and he lives there all alone."

Yasopp looked at her in disbelief, " A little kid living alone? Where are his parents?"

" All Luffy has is his Grandfather, but Garp duties as a marine always takes him away from the island-"

" Monkey D. Garp is his grandfather!?" All of the others in the bar gasped in shock. In no time they were talking amongst themselves in awe and horror struck voices. Shanks glared at the sniper, who smiled apologetically.

" Dumbass," Benn grumbled. The first mate couldn't hide his surprise though. Shanks to. They hadn't even known Garp had a child of his own, let alone a grandchild. And the captain remembered that beast of a man back when his captain was alive. A force to be reckon with indeed.

" Are his parents dead?" Shanks asked Makino. The girl crossed her arms and thought about it.

" If I remember right, his mother died after giving birth to him, and no one's sure if the fathers alive or not. No ones sure which of the parents is the child of Garp either."

" And Garp isn't around much is he?" Makino glazed down at the counter. Anger in her dark brown eyes, probably directed at Garp.

" He isn't a bad man. . ."

" But?" Shanks asked.

" He could be there more often for his grandson for gods sake!" The Yonko was taken aback by the girls outburst.

" Doesn't he have any friends?" She merely shook her head. Shanks heart cracked a little for the boy. To be alone was probably the worst thing the pirate could think of. And for a boy at Luffy's age, terrible.

" Ah. . . boss?" Lucky Roo called from the table he sat at. He pointed next to his captain. " Luffy left." Shanks blinked when he saw- in fact- that the boy had left, leaving his finished juice on the counter.

Makino was about to run and get him, but Shanks stopped her.

" Don't worry. I'll make sure he's okay Makino." He left the bar telling his crew to stay behind.

Using his powerful observation haki, he scanned he land and found the boy in seconds. Luffy had quickly entered the forest. Following the trail Shanks was lastly led to a small house deep within the forest.

This was were Luffy lived? A small home made entirely of wood, it was covered in vines, had no windows, not even a door. An animal hide hung from the entrance.

Not that it wasn't fit to be lived in, but what kind of kid lived here by himself?

Shanks knocked on the side of the house and waited patiently. After a minute Luffy poked his head out from the door- slash animal hide. Oddly enough most of the bruises on the boys face had somehow vanished. The only things remaining were the busted lip and black eye.

Unless the Captain was seeing things. He did drink a lot after all.

. . . No. Still sober enough to not hallucinate. That was something he'd get on later.

" Can I help you?" It didn't come out rude, but Shanks noted the hint of suspicion. The boy was smart. Not a lot like that in his age. Then again, not a lot of kids walked into a bar looking beaten to shit.

"You left in quite a hurry back there."

The boy yawned uncaring.

"Makino was worried."

Silence.

" So. . .You live here. . .?"

Somewhere in the distance, a cricket could be heard. This was not how the Yonko played this in his head. He was about to ask to go in when suddenly a large growl crackled like fire. Shanks saw a two headed Tiger the size of a small ship come from the bushes. Blood stained its fur, signs that it recently taken down a large animal of sorts.

The head on the left looked at the captain while the right one looked at Luffy. _Not good._

_"_ Luffy stay behind me." The captains orders fell on deaf ears, because the boy had walked towards the thing. The Tiger growled, then lunged at the boy with the speed of a cannon ball. " Luffy!"

What happened next was incredible. Condensed energy, blind to the eyes of most- shot out from Luffy. The tiger was coming at the boy, planning and snaking down on him, then it froze mid-air, eyes widened, then fell to the ground unconscious.

" No. Way." The boy knew Haoshoku Haki. He knew how to _control _Haoshoku Haki. The Captain rarely ever saw something that made him go dumbstruck. " Luffy," his tone filled with awe. " Do you know what you just did?"

The boy turned around. Shanks gasped when he saw blood fall from Luffy's good eye. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and then Luffy passed out.

" Luffy!"

* * *

" And you said he used haki?" Jacob, doctor of the red haired pirates asked his captain. Shanks nodded. Jacob hummed in thought. " Did this ever happen when you first learn Haoshoku haki? Do you know anyone did ever happened to?"

Shanks thought about it. Back when he was in Rogers crew, he'd seen both his captain and Rayleigh use Haoshoku haki with no problems to their health. Whitebeard as well. Though maybe that man wasn't the ideal image of health nowadays.

" No. I never seen this happened before."

" Well than I don't no what this could be, because the kid seems healthy despite the bruises. No infection, he's not malnourished or being starved. No sign of broken bones, or busted blood vessels. Going back to the bruises, the kid is healing some in minutes that should last for a few days."

" Yeah, I noticed that when I saw most of them left his face."

" You think It's a devil fruit captain?"

" I'm not sure." Shanks had never read or heard about a devil fruit that heals the user like this.

" Well I say we just let the kid rest. If anything-"

Luffy shot up, gasping. Jacob cursed and jumped from his seat. Freighted by the boys abruptly waking. Luffy looked around the room in panic. He shot from the bed aiming for the door. Shanks being greatly skilled, caught the boy by the arm. " Luffy! It's okay!"

Obviously those words were ignored, because the boy punched Shanks in the gut. It didn't hurt, but it did wind him a little. A boy his age shouldn't have been able to hit that hard. Luffy attempted to punch him again, but he caught the fist with his other hand. " Luffy!"

Only then did the boy stop fighting him. But the captain was taken aback by the ear and panic in his eyes. Had awakening in a strange place really scare him that much. Not that Shanks could blame him.

Slowly he lessened his grip on Luffy's arms, just in case he started attacking again. " There we go." The boy scanned the room, with weary eyes. Shanks noted the flinch when Luffy looked at the bed.

" I want to go home," Luffy whispered. Both men in the room heard him clearly. Shanks looked at Jacob.

" Give us a minute."

" Yes captain."

When it was only the two, Shanks took off his straw hat, and rested it on the bed. " I'll take you home Luffy, but first I would like to ask you some questions."

" Questions?" Shanks nodded.

" Do you know what you did to that Tiger?"

" I made it go to sleepy." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Shanks chuckled a little.

" No Luffy, what you did was something called Haki."

" Haki?"

Shanks paused and though about the best way to explain the concept of Haki to a child. " Haki is a power that is found in every living being in the world. It can be used to sense and overpower enemies." Shanks once again noticed the change in the boys expression. The moment he said overpower, Luffy got very interested. The boy had brains, as well as a dark back story. He took the silence as his point to continue.

" Three kinds of haki. First there is Kenbunshoku haki, also called in some languages Mantra, or Observation haki. It allows the user to sense the presence of others, even if they are concealed from view or too far to see naturally."

Luffy raised his hand, like a kid in school would when wanting to ask a question. It was kind of adorable if the captain may say so.

" Is that how you found my home?"_ Smart indeed, _Shanks thought with a smile.

" Yes. I've spent years training my haki to the point I can sense how many people are on this island." Luffy looked a him in amazement. Oh how it warmed Shanks ego so! " Anyways, lets move on to the second kind of haki." Shanks held his hand up, and Luffy watched as it became black and shiny. " Busoshoku haki or 'armament haki' allows someone to defend against attacks that would otherwise cause them harm. But enough force and a attack could bypass Busoshoku haki, unless you train it hard enough. Than no one can really hurt you-" Again there was that light in the boys onyx eyes. "-It also a way of bypassing devil fruit users defenses."

" Whats a, dev-al fruit user?" Shanks had forgotten that devil fruits weren't common in the east blue. People still believed they were a myth.

" Dev-il, Luffy. Its pronounced Dev-il. And those are people who gain strange powers from eating these things called devil fruits. Devil Fruits are rare, having one day fallen from the sky around the sea. There are over hundreds of them out and about. In a certain part of the sea known as the knew world, almost everyone has a devil fruit power and they also know haki."

" Are you a devil fruit user?" Luffy asked curiously.

" No, but as you can see I do know haki. And a few of my crew mates are devil fruit users. I'll ask them to show you what they can do." Excitement flashed in the boys eyes. The Yonko was beginning to notice how Luffy hardly showed what he felt through facial expressions.

" Now lastly we have Haoshoku Haki, also known as conqueror's haki. This haki is different from the other two because it cannot be learned. Your either born with it or not. But what you can do, is train it. Conqueror's haki isn't just knocking people unconscious. You dominate the wills of others. However, those with stronger wills can resist or even ignore the effects of Haoshoku Haki. The ability to knock someone out depends on the difference in strength between the person using Haki and the person or persons the user is trying to knock out. The greater the power gap, the easier it is to knock the victim out."

Shanks was surprise when Luffy smiled with fierce determination in his eyes. " Teach me!"

The Yonko blinked, then got serious. The change in demeanor wiped Luffy's smile away. " Do you know what you asking me Luffy? The road to learning Haki is long and hard. If I do this, everyday will be a test of your survival skills and your very soul itself."

Luffy clenched his hands into fist. And for a split second Shanks could have sworn Luffy's eyes changed colors. Unless it was his imagination?

" Make me stronger."

" Tell me why I should. Show me now why I should! Scream it to me! Show me your RESOLVE!-"

" BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO BE SCARED ANYMORE!" Luffy began to cry. That look of self loathing Shanks first saw in him came back stronger. " I just don't want to be scared anymore. I hate being weak. It's because I'm weak, they made fun of me, hurt me, and did so many things to me." The boy wrapped his arms around himself as if to keep from falling into pieces. And Shanks saw the emotional breaking of a child in the moment. And it broke the mans heart.

" They said, that I shouldn't have been born. That If they found me they would kill me. They say bad thing happen to me because I was born." Luffy found himself off the ground in a second. A pair of strong arms wrapped around him and his face pressed again something hard. Luffy had seen people do this at times around the village. It was called hugging.

No one ever hugged him before. _Because you never let Makino do it. _Luffy thought to himself. He was to afraid to. To afraid of other people hands.

But now he wasn't afraid. For the first time in a long time he wasn't scared anymore. He felt. . . Something else. A warm press in his chest. A feeling that drove him to wrap his small arms around Mr. Pirates throat and hug him back. Sinking his head into Mr. Pirates shoulder he cried until his eyes stung. Everything he kept quiet from everyone else he spilled onto the red haired man. Luffy told him everything.

He didn't know how long he spoke for. Hours? days? By the end of it he had expected Mr. Pirate to do what those monsters did. Insult him and laugh at his pain. Except there was nothing in the mans dark eyes. No judgement, no pity. Only excepts and caring.

" I didn't ask to be born, ya know? I would have been okay with not existing. With dying."

" Shh. It's okay Luffy. It's going to be okay. Everything will be okay." Shanks sat on the bed with Luffy wrapped around him.

" Don't let me go Mr. Pirate. Please don't let me go."

Eventually the emotional stress became to exhausting, and the boy fell asleep. Shanks gently tucked him into bed. Taking his prized straw hat, he place it on Luffy's head and left the boy to rest. A small smile graced the mans lips. Huh. A strange thought popped into his head.

The boy was born to wear that hat.


	2. Connections

**CHAPTER 2.**

**Connections**

For the next several month Luffy threw his body, mind, and soul into Shanks training. It was difficult-yes, but the boy relished every minute of it. The first thing Shanks had him learn was to fight. Benn who was a master of five ancient fighting styles had taught Luffy hand to hand combat. He also thought the boy Fishman Karate, Rokushiki, and Hasshoken.

Benn was not an easy teacher. The first mate made sure to beat all his lessons into Luffy.

Whenever he demonstrated a new move, he did it only once and expect Luffy to memorize every step in one go. Luffy had to make sure to increase his focus at all times when it was Benn's time of the day to teach him. He was thrown in at the deep end every time and forced to defend himself in the face of very real attacks by the first mate.

The rifle carrying Pirate was also highly intelligent. From him, Luffy learned to read and write. He learned about philosophy, history, math, a few sciences, anatomy, and economics. The mental workouts were much easier than the physical tortures he endured everyday. Benn and Shanks had been surprised how easily Luffy was able to process and understand information.

Benn was sure the boy would have an IQ if he was tested.

Lucky Roo was less harsh on Luffy than Benn. The large goggles wearing pirate trained him in survival. Teaching the marine grandson how to swim, make his own clothing, trap making, surviving in different areas and climates, as well surviving with long periods of food. Luffy didn't eat much for the longest time, but he'd never gone without food before.

The gluttonous pirate once made him go four days without digesting anything solid. Drinking water was permitted, but it had to be water Luffy found and disinfected. The bug infested waters he had to use as sustenance tasted down right awful. Many times he couldn't keep the slug down and vomited it back up. But that was light weight, compared to having to eat a live rat. The flesh was terrible and left a bad taste in his mouth for three days.

Luffy didn't have much to learn from Jacob. The doctor tough him basic paramedic skills. Stitch work, disinfecting, drug control, and CPR. Things Luffy picked up rather quickly along with Benn's textbook teachings.

While they weren't his thing, Yasopp taught Luffy on how to use guns. From revolvers to rifles to cannons. He had to learn how to use flintlocks, matchlocks and wheel-locks. Not one of Luffy's favorite lessons. The haki user found guns to noisy and simple. But it was a useful skill set none the less. Shanks even explained there might come a time when he was to exhausted physically to throw a punch or use haki.

Yasopp also tough him the 'art'- as the man like to put it- of thievery, and gambling. Those were the only things Makino had protested to, which required a lot of convincing from Shanks. Not that Luffy understood.

Makino wasn't the boss of him, but Shanks had warned him that if any of them got the green haired bartender mad, then that was it for all the liqueur. Which again the kid did not understand what the importance of the adult drink was.

" You don't understand because your a kid Luffy," Shanks explained to him one day. " Alcohol is the precious foundation of life itself! For without the glorious liquid, we as men would have nothing to live for!"

Never again would Luffy asked the captain a question on such matters. How can a man that powerful, be so. . . Luffy couldn't think of a word. He'd look in one of the dictionaries Benn had later.

After hours of having his body pushed to the limits, Shanks would always be the last one to teach him. Haki and swordsmanship. Observation haki was the worst to learn because his body would barely allow him to stand, and Shanks method of teaching was to throw rocks at him expecting the boy to dodge all of them. After two months he mastered all three haki's. At first only being able to knock out three people at a time, he was now able to hit fifty.

It was no where near as outstanding like Shanks who was able to knock out the entire Island if he wanted to, but he still took pride in it.

Swordsmanship was no joke. It was much harder to learn then hand to hand combat, because it involved more precision and less brute careless force. Especially when utilizing haki into his sword. But after watching Shanks perform a slice that went two miles deep into the forest, he stopped complaining.

Everyday he woke up ready to learn, and every night he feel asleep to prepare for the next morning. But the Lessons weren't for free. In exchange Luffy had to polish and clean out the pirates weaponry and help move cargo around the ships.

The red hair pirates didn't just teach him about the world around him, but about himself to. Like how his body rapid healing and inability to be struck with disease was unnatural for human beings. It would take minutes for contusions to fade, and mere hours for bones to heal. Something he knew about but never paid much mind to. Not only that but he had a gift for knowledge as well as a photographic memory.

People rarely had black hair and eyes, and he had unique facial features that didn't seem to pertain to any of the culture groups the pirates seen anywhere in the world. He didn't truly care about that, but listened respectfully to his teachers. He also had a strangely large amount of stamina and endurance for someone his age, as well as being a seven year old with the physical strength of a teenager.

On rare days when they let him off the hook, Luffy usually spent his free time with Shanks in Party's bar.

" Makino! Another drink please!" Luffy and Shanks exclaimed in unison. Makino giggled at the two and brought them back rum and apple juice. The student and teacher toasted and sipped their drinks. " AH!" they sighed in relief.

" Shanks, take me on an adventure with you!"

" Easy there Anchor, maybe when your a little older."

" Aww! That's so lame!"

Benn chuckled in the seat next to Luffy, " Still at it boy?"

" Sensei, tell Shanks to take me with you on your next adventure."

" Why not Captain?" Benn joked. Shanks glared at the first mate.

" Hey, dammit, who's crew you on anyways? Maybe I should give Luffy your spot and leave you behind?"

" Yeah! Do that!" Luffy agreed.

" Oh go ahead captain. I could use a vacation from all the trouble you bring me out on the sea." Benn quipped.

" The hell you think these last few months have been about?!" Shanks exasperated.

" I though you wanted to stay behind to corrupt young Luffy's mindset," Benn shrugged taking a drag of his cigar.

Luffy looked at the Yonko in confusion. " Is that true Shanks?" The captain replied by smacking him up side the head.

" OF COURSE NOT YOU IDIOT!" he screamed with dagger sharp teeth. Everyone in the bar bursted out laughing including Benn and Luffy. The captain grumbled and went back to giving his drink all the attention in the world.

" You could have dodged that, ya' know," Benn informed the boy.

Luffy laughed, " I know." The first mate shook his head at his students antics. The young haki user patted his stomach. " Man I'm hungry."

" Would you like something from the kitchen?" Makino asked.

" Oh no you don't Makino!" Lucky Roo exclaimed from his table with a mouth full of stake. How the pirate was able to enunciate sentences was beyond Luffy. " Anchor has to eat what he catches."

"I Know, I know." Luffy left the bar and used Soru to go into the forest. In just a minute he made the half hour walk to the forest. Using observation haki he found a black panther nearby. The sun was still out and about, so he wasn't in any rush. Slowly he tracked his pray, watching it from afar and waiting for a time to strike.

The panther hissed at the feel of danger in the air, but went back to the monkey carcass it was dinning on. Luffy moved up behind it, hiding his presence like Benn taught him to. Using Shigan he stabbed the beast behind the head in the top vertebra with a finger, killing it instantly. Kneeling beside his kill he wiped his hand on the grass.

He study his kill. Fully grown, lots of meat in the mid-section and legs. It would be a fine meal. He regarded the dead monkey next. The panther hand only eaten the throat so far, and the kill was fresh, so he'd eat it as well. Using the pocket knife he kept in his back pocket he slit the panthers throat and laid it and the monkey on a medium sized rock to bleed out. He looked at the blood sliding down the rock in morbid fascination.

Something about blood made his gums ache in a strange manner.

Using bits of flint he found on the ground he struck a fire. With the knife he slit the animals down the middle. After gutting and skinning he rotisserie cooked the meats over the fire. The food smelled delicious, but he made sure to not be affected by it. Lucky always said that food was a privilege, not a right. Regard it with respect when you have to take a life to get it.

Luffy snapped his head up and twirled around. With observation Haki he felt someone being chased by what he could only make out to be wolves. Whatever, it didn't concern him.

_But Shanks would have gone and helped._

Luffy sneered at the thought. Not. His. Business.

If it wasn't, why was he heading over there? With Soru he ran to the source of the disturbance. He was taken to a small clearing. A boy wearing all blue and a large hat was surrounded by eight wolves. The boy was probably a year or two older than Luffy, with curly blonde hair, currently defending himself with some kind of long pipe.

_Like that will do anything. _The wolves were the sizes of grown men. The other boy stood no chance. Luffy went from his spot behind the bushes to stand right in front of the blonde.

" What the hell!" The blond exclaimed, shocked that someone appeared from nowhere in front of him. The wolves regarded Luffy hungrily. The boy scoffed. As if understanding his mockery, one wolf growled and attempted to lunge at them.

_Big_ emphasize on attempt. Before it even twitched, Luffy knocked them all out with Conquerors haki. A huge pain shot in his frontal lobe, as if some jammed a hot iron in his skull, and the familiar itching sensation appeared on the left side of his rib cage. Clutching his head Luffy breathed calmly to ease the pain. His knees threatened to buck, but he was so use to the pain that he maintained some bodily control. All the training with Shanks gave him better control of his haki, and kept him from passing out, but he still had to deal with a major headache.

" Whoa!" The other kid said in awe. Looking at all the unconscious wolves that would have made dinner out of him. When he looked at his savior, he saw blood falling from the black haired boys left eye. " Hey are you okay!?"

" Fine," Luffy grumbled. Blonde didn't believe that for a second. " And you?"

" I'm good _now_. But how did you do that!?" Luffy started walking back in the direction of his roasting cat and monkey. Blonde followed him. Luffy scrunched his face up in annoyance. Maybe he should use haki to knock the boy out to. But if he did that, than the wolves would wake up before him and eat the blonde boy. Not to mention he'd deal with another skull shooter.

" Hey! Don't ignore me bastard!"

Okay maybe the wolves would be doing him a favor. And he could take a pill for the pain.

Facing the boy Luffy sighed in annoyance, " I saved your life. Can't you be grateful and go home?" The boy flinched at the word home. Luffy was taken aback by that. Remembering he use to do that whenever some said the wrong word that would bring up the memories of those men-

_NO!_ He did not! Want to think about that! Luffy made sure to conceal any emotion that might have mistakenly bled out. With an impassive face he spoke again. " Or if you want, you could joining me for lunch." The rumbling of the boys stomach was answer enough, so Luffy led him back to the where the meats were cooking.

The blonde sniffed the fumes coming from the meat and drool slightly. " That smells great. Oh, and the names Sabo by the way." He held his hand out. Luffy was confused for a second before he realized it was a greeting. They shook hands, and sat down on two separate rocks to eat. Luffy gave Sabo half the cat and some of the monkey. With no plates or cutlery, they used their hands and laps.

Luffy noted the Sabo had no problem doing such. Was he some sort of survivalist like himself?

The two ate in somewhat awkward silence. Sabo struck up a few conversational topics, such as favorite foods, the weather and even somehow getting into a talk about pants. It was strange talking with another child. Luffy had spent most of his time with adults for the longest, the other kids in the village had always been freaked out by him. When he started hanging around the pirates, they down right hated him.

Even though Shanks never harmed anyone in the village, people still feared and hated him. Except for the people who lived around and visited Partys Bar. They actually were decent enough to attempt to get to know the pirates.

But that was the thing about human beings. Always quick to judge, always quick to hate.

When the fire went out and the meat was chew off the bones, Sabo thanked Luffy once again and the two boys started to go their separate ways. " Wait!" Luffy looked to Sabo in question. " What you say your name was?"

" I didn't." With that Luffy used Soru to get back to the village. The sun still out and about the young haki user went back to Partys Bar. Luffy went shamefaced when he saw the all powerful Yonko who was to be making him stronger dancing on top of the bar, drunk off his ass. Everyone was just as lively as they were before he left.

Shanks saw Luffy and stopped dancing. " Hey Anchor! What took you so long?!" Luffy sat in his usual seat. Makino brought him a glass of pineapple juice, and asked him the same question as Shanks. Luffy gave them a small smile.

" I just saved someones life."

More partying. More drinking. After a few hours the pirates retired to their ship. Shanks carried a sleeping Luffy, back to his private quarters. Ever since the beginning of his training Shank had told Luffy he wasn't allowed to stay in the creepy rundown cabin. There was something unsettling about it. Not only that, but the Yonko felt uncomfortable with Luffy being alone at night.

He knew of the horrible things that happened to Luffy, and it still infuriated him til this day. While he was grateful that Luffy trusted him enough to tell him, a small part of the pirate wanted to forget the horrors the boys been through. At this point he knew Luffy could practically take down a lot of the east blue strongest, but at the end of the day he was still a child.

He wanted to watch as Luffy grew into the great man the pirate knew he would be. All the red haired pirates wanted to. It was why they were constantly pushing him during training. Even Benn had saw greatness the first time the two sparred.

Luffy had flailed at the first couple of punches that had come at him, providing no proper defense and absorbing the blows in his head and gut. But sooner than was at all expected, something had clicked within him—his stance had changed for no good reason, his fists coming up, his body filling out those raggedy clothes in an altogether different way.

That had been… nothing short of extraordinary.

In the first few minutes of Benn punching the boys face in, Luffy had manage to dodge a total of five its from his first mate. Benn had been surprised, even having to go from one percent of trying to two.

Luffy still got his ass kicked, yes, but during that very first fight, and at each succeeding one, he had demonstrated an uncanny ability to assimilate. Between the initial fist that had been thrown at him, to the moment when he had finally landed on his ass with exhaustion, he had evolved more as a fighter in minutes than soldiers who had spent years in the marines.

What the young haki user didn't know was that they were working him harder and harder everyday. He had above average ability, which was why they gave him grueling task. The more they pushed, the better he'd become.

Somewhere in his heart, Shanks knew the boy will surpass him one day.

Luffy did spur strong emotions in the man. Without realizing it the two had formed a bond so profound it shocked Shanks when he finally did realize it. He cared about Anchor way more than he thought he would. More than he should.

Tucking the young boy into bed, he fluffed the boys pillow and covered him with the bed sheets.

Luffy turned in his sleep eyes still closed, " Thanks father."

Shanks froze at what anchor just said, and stayed like that for the longest time. When he regained himself the pirate ruffled the boys messy raven hair and left him to sleep. Tear fell from the red haired mans face and had to hold in his comical sobs as he ran to Benn room to tell him what just happened.

" So what do you plan on doing with your life," Shanks asked Luffy one morning after sword training. The boy drank from his canteen of distilled pond water and thought about the question. In truth he wasn't even sure what he'd want to do. Asking Shanks if he could go on an adventure with them was just a joke.

" I don't know." As nice as Shanks was, Luffy didn't want to be under the mans command. The same reason why he didn't want to become a Marine. Especially a stiff with a pole up his as like grand-uncle Sengoku. Luffy and authority didn't mix well. The idea of having to follow someones orders made the boy violent.

His teachers didn't really give him orders. They told him what to do, but it was more in the sense of guides, not bosses.

" Really?"

" Well, Grandpa wanted me to become a Marine, and. . . well. . . That sucks-" Shanks snickered- " And becoming a Pirate means taking orders."

" Well a crewmate yes, but why not become a captain?"

" A captain?" He never thought about that before.

" I believe you'd make a great captain anchor."

" Stop calling me that! Alcoholic!" He yelled pointing his sword at the captain who glared right back.

" I am not an alcoholic! I'm a connoisseur of the finest beverages. Something a brat like you could never understand!"

" Connoisseur? Is that a synonym for Alcoholic!"

" Show some respect!"

" As if I'd show a dickhead respect!"

They dashed at each other at sonic speeds, swinging their weapons at the same time making their swords clash. The two went on like that for fifteen minutes before Luffy fell backwards onto the soft grass of the field they sparred. His body was done for the day. Closing his eyes, he felt his body slowly heal itself and allowed himself to fall into the dream world.

Knowing Shank would take him home.

The next day Luffy went to the Goa Kingdom capital. Chore list in hand he was sent by Lucky Roo to buy himself more clothes. Luffy hated buying clothes. It was always long and boring, you had to look through an annoying amount of other clothes to find ones that were in your sizes. Not to mention the annoying merchants who tried to persuade you to buy even more clothing than needed.

Seriously, who needed twelve pairs of pants? Luffy easily lived for months off of simply three. When ever they got too dirty, he'd washed them in a stream or river.

Yet it was the constant refusal of his everyday clothing that they were ruined during training. Not that the young haki user would have cared. What was a little rips and blood here and there anyways?

_Adults. _Made him wonder if he'd be a stiff like them when he was older. Thank gods that wasn't for a long time. After finding a shop that sold kids clothing, he bought four pairs of pants, five new shirts, and a type of clothing called a sweater. Something he saw Jacob wearing once.

When Luffy had been studying, he wondered why Benn knew thought him about simple everyday things, like the name of clothes, or why certain foods were named strangely. Like deviled eggs. They were neither evil nor possessed from as far as he knew.

Out of curiosity Luffy passed one shop that sold these strange, yet good smelling things that weren't food. The woman who owned the shop smiled kindly when he asked what those bottles on the shelves were.

" Those are cosmetics darling. Wonderful products you apply to the body beautifying the face, skin, hair, nails, etcetera." Seemed relatively useless to the boy but whatever. It was probably another thing Luffy wouldn't ever understand.

The woman was also a hairdresser and had offered to give him a haircut. Never have gotten a hair cut before he thought about it. Curiosity got the best of Luffy and he allowed her to cut his hair. When she was done She held up a mirror to show him the results. His hair was cut down shorter, and on the sides she went even lower. She explained that it was a style popular on islands in the west blue, called a brush cut.

He liked it.

" Hey whats that stuff?" Luffy asked the hairdresser. Pointing at a few glass jars with different colored liquids in them.

" Ah! Those are hair dyes."

" What do those do?"

After she explained, an idea popped into his head. " How much for a treatment?" Luffy paid the woman and decided to head back to Foosha village after the job was done. Luffy stopped mid-step as a strange chill went down his neck.

" Would you like me to tell your future?"

Luffy turned to sea a woman sitting at a small table in an alley way. The woman didn't look anything like any of the other women Luffy seen before. Long black hair, with green eyes that reminded Luffy of grass, her skin was the color of the hot chocolate Makino made for Shanks. Her skin color caught the haki user off guard. A foreigner maybe? He didn't think anyone was darker than himself.

The woman wore a robe the color of blood that draped all over her from the neck down. Luffy walked up to the table, not stupid enough to drop his guard he watched the woman ever so carefully encase she was a bugger trying to steal his shopping bags or money. Something about the female put him off ease. Something was not quite right with her.

" My future?"

The woman looked amused by the suspicious in his voice. She pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them swiftly. Placing them on the table she motion to them. " The cards hold the fragments of destiny and foresight. Draw four and let them show you what may lay ahead."

" Why should I?"

" Well why not?"

" Because people are always up to something. And I don't know you."

" True but I am merely an woman, and judging by the way you carry yourself, I can tell you are skilled in combat. If you wanted to, you most likely could kill me." And yet she didn't seemed weary of him in the least. To pacify his curiosity he picked up six cards and handed them to her.

She explained the meaning of the cards placing them on the table one at a time. The first card held a picture of nine black swords in a sea of fire. The woman's eyes went emotionless, her voice as she spoke, was grim. " Behold the swords of nine. For they speak of pain, agony, torment, and depression. The river of pain speaks also of the cries of them who you shall make suffer with your own hands."

The next card she slammed on the table. The moment she did that thunder unexpectedly boomed from the sky's. Luffy took a frightened step back._ Run, _he thought, but his eyes were glued to the table. A strong presence filled the alley, and it made him freeze in place.

The second card held a picture of a black crown above a cracked sun. " _Behold the forsaken one!" _The woman shouted in a language Luffy never heard before but somehow understood. " _For he roars his need for the blood of those who damned him!"_

The next card she slammed was had picture of a body half submerged in a river, but you could see the other half of the body through the water. " _Behold the path of the forgotten creed! Thou who is born of the merger!" _Harsh winds began to pick up. Luffy tightened his grip on his shopping bags.

The next card made Luffy gasp in horror. A picture of a triple colored swallow flying around the earth. Luffy clutched his left side. The bird on the card looked just like his birth mark. According to his grandpa he had been born with the image of a fiery swallow on his left rib cage. But it was so much more than that. It was what most of the pirates called a cursed mark. Not knowing of its origins, it was what Shanks and Benn decided to called it, seeing it fitting as to what it did to Luffy most times.

For reason he probably would never understand since he was five the mark would at time glow, and a wave of pure agony would engulf him. The pain so ferocious and unforgiving that it left him immobile. One time he tried burning it off when he was six with a scorching knife, but his body healed and so did the mark.

Shanks had told him sadly there would possibly be no way of getting rid of it. Though the captain still searched for a way.

" _Behold the forbidden path! The one who will defy the natural order!" _The woman's eyes rolled into the back of her head. The whites of her eyes began to glow iridescently. The wind became even more fierce. The boy had to shield his eyes from debris. " What the hell is happening!" Luffy cried over the loud claps of thunder. He faintly heard another slap on the table.

"_ Behold the gathering! Love! Loyalty! Those not of your kind will flock to you! The ray of light to pull them from the darkness!" _

Suddenly in a second everything went back to normal. Luffy slowly lowered his arms. The wind had eased, the thunder no more, the woman eyes, returned therein to normal. She held the final card and placed it tenderly onto the table. As if it were a sleeping baby.

" Behold,-" a man with a cross on his stomach laying in a field naked with the sunlight hitting him,-" The golden devil. For he will shake heaven and hell. Conquer dream and bless reality. His path no one but he knows not. Chained by his past, but freed by his future." A flash of light filled the alley, when it died down the woman and the table disappeared.

What Luffy witnessed in that alley was something he'd never forget. When he got back to the village he told himself he would not talk about what had happen to anyone. When he got to the Party's bar, the pirates were in the middle of singing a chantey. Until he walked in, then they all went silent.

Shanks standing on top of the bar, nearly lost his footing. " Luffy?"

" I'm back!" The boy put on a bright smile. Everyone's flabbergasted expression was just what he needed to lighten up his mood. Cause gods a distraction was needed about now. The captain rushed to him and ran a large hand through Luffy's short red highlighted hair. " What you think Shanks?"

The mans face went rapturous when he answered." You look awesome!"

While the two talked about the hair change, the red haired pirates went pale faced. All of them thing the exact same thing. All shivering at the passing thought.

_Dear gods there's going to be two of them._


	3. Sick joke

_**CHAPTER 3.**_

_**Sick Joke**_

_**Months later**_

" Tell me that wasn't your best, you worthless _bakolio!"_

Luffy saw red at the ancient Greek insult that accused him of being a baby that needed it's mothers milk. Pushing himself from the ground where he'd been beaten in to, he glared at Benn. He got into fighting stance, despite the protest of his body, and readied himself for the next brutal assault.

Without warning the first mate closed the distance between them and sent out a barrage of punches. Narrowly dodging them all, Luffy delivered a kick into the mans chin. Without missing a beat he infused haki into his fist and punched Benn into the solar plexus. But damn the pirate, he used armament haki to protect himself from the attack.

Leaving himself too open, Benn up'd his game and started raining down punches on the boy. Fast, furious and lethal as all hell, Benn rendered Luffy's body useless. The young haki users arms were so numb and battered from the earlier blows that he couldn't defend himself. When the punches stopped coming he was kicked away landing face first in the sand.

" Your to predictable. Surprise me boy. Get up or i'll throw you into the ocean!" And he would to. Luffy knew from personal experience. Once again pushing himself of the sand. He tried going on the offensive this time. It proved worthless when Benn pinned him down with a single move so fast, even with observation haki he hadn't realized the man had gone into a motion until he was tasting sand.

Thank whatever higher power for his healing abilities or he would died long ago from this fucked up training slash one sided beat down. Benn yawned as if he woke up from a nap, which irked Luffy. Lately the boy has been growing sick and tired of his training. Sick of getting his ass thrown into the dirt and becoming concussed so often that he couldn't sleep because of the ringing in his ears.

It made him wonder if Shanks wasn't just nurturing his ego when he would say that Luffy was stronger then most in the east blue. How could he be strong when he couldn't do the 'simplest' of task right? Maybe it was some sort of conspiracy? Why not? People always seemed to enjoy messing with him.

Slowly and steadily Luffy's mood darkened. He grew more disillusioned with the passing of each day, growing to hate his training and himself more and more. Loathing the training because he felt it was getting him no where. Loathing himself because he felt as weak in the days before meeting the pirates. Time had been more simple back then. He was disliked amongst the villages population, lived alone, and his accursed birth mark would bring pain to him most days, but at least he got use to the workings of his life.

He lost the optimism he first held for the training. The little joys he gained seeped from his life, and went halfheartedly about his book studies. Taking no interest from what he read, or the stories he was told by some of the crew members. After returning from a two week voyage, Shanks was happy to see his little friend. Only he didn't. When returning to Foosha village all he saw was a boy who had fallen back into a depression.

Shanks tried to get Luffy to talk about it, but the boy rebuffed all advances made by him and Makino. It shouldn't have came as a surprise, with Luffy's independent nature and all.

Shanks desperately wanted to see the boy smile again. He would have done anything. But he was helpless. _You can't keep a shark in coy pond Shanks. _It was a saying his deceased captain use to tell the Yonko. It was times like this he wished for his captains advice.

In just a month the pirate would set sail and leave the village permanently. Perhaps then it would be time to get Luffy away from here. But then that would result in Garp declaring war on them, and the Red haired pirates didn't really need that at this point in time. Shanks still had to keep an eye out for Kaido.

" Shanks can I ask you something?" The captain put down his fork and swallowed the steak he was chewing.

" Whats up?"

" How come you never had a problem with me being the grandson of a Marine? Don't you hate Marine's"

Luffy watched the mans expressions become serious, something that rarely happened. " You have to understand Luffy. Not all pirates are like us. If it wasn't for the marines, piracy would be at an all time high. There would be no order and many innocent would be hurt in the crossfire. Marines keep certain order within the world. Not all marines are corrupt.

"Take you grandfather for example. During the pirate kings age, Garp kept a lot of bad people from hurting others." Luffy had no idea. Why hadn't he asked the old man before? Oh, yeah. The asshole kept throwing him into the woods, as a demented method of training him.

" I see. . ."

" What brought this up? Is this your way of telling me your going to become a Marine?"

" Hell no!" The Yonko snickered when Makino scolded Luffy for his use of bad words.

The bar went silent when the front doors were kicked of their hinges. A tall man with a goatee and scar above his eye came in with a bunch of other men wearing turbans. The pirates starred at the group of men. Why weren't they doing anything? Luffy briefly wondered. Looking at Shanks from the corner of his eye he saw the captain went back to eating his food.

" Sorry for the interruption," the goatee man who was most likely the leader, said in a mocking tone. " So these are pirates? They look like idiots." Luffy growled lowly. He was about to beat the man head in when he felt Benn's hand on his shoulder. Looking at his sensei in disbelief, the first mate just shook his head.

The leader walked to the bar with an ego that scream superiority complex like a church bell. Makino, ever the polite hostess spoke up with that welcoming look that irked Luffy at times. " Welcome," she greeted. Like always at random times, Luffy's birth mark began to burn.

" We are bandits. We're not here to destroy your bar." His men snickered and chuckled behind him. Luffy shivered when he noticed a few of them looking at him. " We need ten barrels of sake."

" I'm sorry, but were out of sake at the moment."

" How strange. The pirates are drinking something. . . Is it water?"

Everything after that it took Luffy all restraining strength to not haki up when words were exchange and the man ended up drenching Shanks in alcohol, breaking more bottles with his sword and pushing the red haired male onto the floor. Rage ripped at the boy to the point he couldn't even feel his birth mark burning. But a look from Benn told him not to act on it. The first mate motioned for him to stand behind him. Luffy grudgingly did as he was told.

" Later cowards," the bandit leader said before he left. Makino rushed to Shanks.

" Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere captain?

" I'm fine. No problem." Shanks snickered afterwards, then everybody began to laugh.

" They really got you captain!" Yelled Yasopp.

" How shameful," teased Lucky Roo.

Luffy stared at the laughing pirates dumbfounded. Were they all on something? Had the alcohol finally killed what remaining brain cells they had left? Their captain was humiliated for gods sake! Pushed over by someone _way_ weaker than him, and yet. . .

Shanks just laughed.

He didn't care what some bandit thought of him, he didn't even knocked the bastards teeth out for splashing him with sake. Shanks had been the bigger person and chose not to be baited. Despite all his power, he wasn't quick to use it to enforce it on others. The captain was truly amazing. The respect Luffy held for him grew ten times.

Before he even realized it, he was laughing along side with the others. He didn't even notice Shanks looking at him from the corner of his eye. A look of pride in the eyes of the man he secretly thought of as his father.

As the day progress and the moon switched places with the sun in the sky, and it was time for a bath. When you hung out with pirates that drank everyday, you begin to reek of the beverages.

" Makino, can I get a towel." Luffy told the bartender. Shanks yawned.

" That time of the day already? I thought the sun was still up," said the Yonko.

" Seriously Shanks, you should ease up off the liqueur, its ruining your sense of time telling." Shanks took the towel from Makino's hands and threw it at the young laughing haki user.

" Your not funny brat," The captain yelled out as he left the bar. Luffy went deep into the forest to the small pond he discovered months ago he used for baths. It was a nice little spot that none of the animals ever visited except for the occasional bug. It was the one time of day he let his guard down to relax.

That would prove to be a horrible mistake that would stalk him for the rest of his life.

Washing out his red and black hair, Luffy paused when he heard the rustling of bushes. " Well look what we have here." The bandits from earlier had walked from the bushes, wicked dark smiles plastered onto their faces. They all surrounded him holding swords in their hands.

_Oh no._ This reminded Luffy of that time. Rushing out of the pond, he ignored the fact that he was naked, and let his haki begin to flow throughout his body.

" Look its the little fish who hangs with pirates!"

" Look at him. So cute," said one bandit.

" Cute. Nah, he looks edible."

" Where are your pussy pirates?"

"I think he's scared!

" Can we have fun with him boss?"

" I want first dibs!"

Higuma smiled. " Sure, why not. But as boss I get first dibs-" the fuckers sentence was cut short when Luffy punched him hard in the face. The snapping of his nose was like twig. The man cried out clutching his broken nose. Using Soru, Luffy went to the nearest bandit and kicked him upside his head. The hit sent him flying to the nearest tree.

" Get him!" Higuma ordered. They all rushed the boy. Luffy smirked and started to beat them down one by one. Quickly disarming them, and hit them with non lethal moves. When he was done with the last one, he turned his sights to the standing bandit leader. The bastard backed up in fear. Luffy was about to go at him when his birth mark shot a wave of explosive agony that made him fall to the ground.

_No! No! No! _He mentally cried. This couldn't be happening. This _shit_ could _not_ be happening!

The wounded bandits looked on in confusion, but after a minute they began smiling. Picking themselves of the ground they stepped in front of the boys prone form. Panic hit Luffy like a body shot, which escalated into horror when he body became unresponsive. He could move not even a finger. Nor could he scream.

" Whats wrong little fish? Can't move for some reason?" Mocked Higuma. His eyes looking hungrily at Luffy's naked unresponsive body. Knowing fully well what that looked entailed, in his head he was screaming.

The sound of pants dropping were like explosive in the boys heads. Squeezing his eyes shut, Luffy prayed to every deity he read about to take mercy on him and save him from what was about to happen.

As a safety measure Higuma pinned him face down on the ground with his arms twisted behind his back. Luffy cringed when the bandit used his other hand to pull violently on his hair, and used a knee to wedge Luffy's thighs apart.

Higuma pressed his naked body against the boy's, the other bandits leering at him with their cruel laughter ringing in his ears. He almost vomited when the bastard licked his ear. " We're going to have a lot of fun with you boy. Don't worry, as pretty as you are, we'll show you what it means to be around real men."

Luffy screamed without making a sound.

**AN: REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVOR.**


	4. Goodbye Father

**CHAPTER 4.**

**Goodbye Father **

Their laughter while they swapped turns with him echoed in his ears. Tears gathered in his eyes as shame filled every molecule of his being. Then again he should have long gotten use to the this feeling, as it happened before.

But the first time around he hadn't been ganged raped.

Repeatedly.

Luffy grinded his teeth as he remembered Higuma's laughter. _I've loosened his tight little ass. Now who wants a turn?_

Sorrowful and disgusted, Luffy sank down in the water of Makino's bath tub, wanting no more than to die. He felt so dirty. As he washed himself he remembered their hands on him as they violated every part of his body. He went through two bars of soap, and he still felt like he was covered in the remnants or their orgasms. Tears spilled over his cheeks.

_I really am pathetic._

A smile spread upon his lips, throwing his head back the boy laughed. His mind went back to the memories of all the pain he had been through in his very short life. Each one making him laugh more and more. From nowhere he remembered that woman from that alley. He remembered her grave dark prediction as well.

_" Behold the swords of nine. For they speak of pain, agony, torment, and depression. The river of pain speaks also of the cries of them who you shall make suffer with your own hands."_

So even destiny has turned its darkest hounds on him. Luffy looked up at the ceiling, and saw a truth that changed his life: He was always going to suffer. Laughter dying, something happened in that moment. The last shred of child innocents that he had possessed, shattered. The life line Shanks had thrown him to pull him from the darkness was cut, but instead of drowning, he was floating.

All the pain went away. Just like that. Disconnected as Luffy was now, he realized there was nothing he could not stomach, no deed he could not accomplish, no means he would not call forth to reach an end.

The pains of his past died out like a fire. His shoulders un-tensed and his skin stopped itching. It was. . .Strange. . .What just happened. But in a way it worked greatly for him. From his agony he found peace. A tingled stretched unto his birth mark, grabbing his attention.

What the hell? The cursed swallow that had always been at his side, was no longer its mix of purple, grey, and red. Now it was pure black trimmed with gold at the sides. The wings that had been tucked were now spread wide. Showing its all in arrogance, daring all to come at it. Its beak opened, ready to feast on the entrails of its enemies.

" _I am the bringer of death. I feast on the blood of my __enemies."_ Why did he say that? The words came out in a language Luffy hadn't learned from Benn. It sounded similar to what the fortuneteller was speaking. It was odd, but then again his life was filled with oddities, so he dismissed it.

After drying himself off after his bath he put on the clothes Makino left out for him on the bed. He should thank her, but right now Luffy didn't need to see the sorrow and pity in her eyes. He didn't have the strength. His body was almost done healing the bruises, so he got into Makino's bed. The bartender told him he would be staying for the night.

Shanks and the others went after the pirates after they found him and brought him back. The ship would be empty, and they didn't want him alone. There was a knock on the door, and Shanks came in. There was blood on his white shirt, but the boy could tell it wasn't his own.

" Hey anchor."

" Hey." The captain sat at the side of the bed. His face was sorrow filled and grave. The Yonko pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket,

" You remember this anchor?" He asked with a small smile. Looking closely at it Luffy did remember.

" The vivre card we promised on. I promised that i would surpass you one day." Shanks chuckled.

" And i promised to protect you until you could protect yourself." Anger flashed in his eyes," Luffy I'm. . . Gods I should have did something about those bandits earlier. I should have killed them the moment they walked into the bar. I'm. . . I'm so sorry Luffy." A tear gathered in the eye the three scars went over.

" I'm fine Shanks."

The Yonko shook his head. " No Luffy. You can't be. This is not just something you heal quickly from."

Crawling out form the sheet he sat next to the pirate. " Honestly Shanks, I'm fine. I'm not scared or sad. Just Tired. After a while you get use to the punishments life throws at you." The man was about to say something, but Luffy cut him off. " Remember what you told me that time I was able to knock out ten of your men with Haki? You said that life his hard. The universe throws us challenges in order to test us. The strong ones pass and the weak fail. But the special ones, even when they fail, they get up and try again. You said those are the ones who make the most impacts on the world."

" And I ain't ready to let the universe walk all over me."

Shanks looked at him with a look of such pride and adoration that it warmed his cold, cold heart. " You are an extraordinary kid Luffy. And you'll be an even greater man one day. You will definitely surpass me one day. I know you will."

" I don't feel all that great, Shanks." He felt like a worn out bitch.

" And that, Anchor, is what shows me that you will be. That you are."

Luffy felt a emotionless tear fall. One that was as devoid as his soul. " I wish I could see myself through your eyes Shanks." His only saw his own flaws and weaknesses.

To his shock, Shanks pulled him forward into a warm embrace, much like the one they shared on the day they first met. The red haired man held him in a fatherly embrace. No judgement. No disgust. No hate. Only love and loyalty. Then Shanks kissed his head and went to tuck him into bed. " Sleepy, anchor. I'll be right here."

Luffy closed his eyes. Listening as Shanks sang him a lullaby, he let the warm hands of unconsciousness grip him tight and pull him out of the world.

**_One month later_**

Some of the villagers who become close with the pirates had come to the dock with Luffy, Makino, and mayor Woop Slap to see the pirates off. Luffy had been expecting this day for the longest. It would be along time before he saw he red haired friend again.

" So where are you going from here?" Luffy asked Shanks as the two watched the crew take in the last of the cargo onto the ship.

" Most likely the new world, after we check out the states of our territories in the west blue." The captain smirked. " You gonna miss us that much anchor?"

" Hell no," Luffy said simply. Shanks fell comically. Benn covered his mouth as to not bust a gut laughing. Luffy continued, " It be nice to walk around and not smell whiskey in the air. Seriously, one would think you bathe in the stuff." Benn couldn't hold it in and started yucking it the hell up.

" Benn you asshole," Shanks glared composed himself.

" Hurry it up Captain, ask the boy already."

" Stop being so damn pushy."

" Stop wasting time."

Luffy looked at the two men in confusion. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and looked on at the three. Shank placed a hand on the boys shoulder. " Luffy. I want you to come out to see with us. "The villagers all gasped at the request. Luffy's eyes widened slightly. Shanks smiled proudly. " Luffy you are strong and intelligent. You have abilities I didn't think possible from someone of your age! You've pushed and worked yourself more than most men ever could. Right now I believe you could even last in the new world.

" All this time Luffy, each day you were improving. Without tipping you off we made sure to work you harder and harder. I'm sorry we made you think you hadn't improved at all, because really you were improving kid! You were soaring to highest at an alarming rate! Come with us Luffy!" He extended an arm out to the boy. " I want to see how you handle the world beyond the east!"

Luffy had an unreadable expression on his face. The red haired pirates were waiting for the young haki user to take their captains hand like they knew he would. Because-_ come on_. The kid had been asking for months to go on an adventure with them, so it was obvious he was going to say-

" Hell no."

Over dozens of jaws hit the ground simultaneously. The drum stick Lucky Roo had been shewing on fell from his mouth. Yasopp's drink slipped from his fingers and shattered on the dock. Benn's cigarette fell from between his lips. Shanks face took on the expression of a little kid reading a book on sex. Looking lost, not comprehending what he was seeing.

Like a balloon losing air, the red haired mans arm deflated back to his side. He made a few choking noises blinking stupidly at the small boy who had his arms crossed in a matter- o- fact manner.

" I mean seriously dude, Like I'm going to follow the orders of an alcoholic."

More choking sounds on Shanks part.

A look of fierce resolve pressed on the boys face, making him look older than he already was. " I don't know about being a pirate, but if i ever decide to let me tell you whats going to happen. I'll gather my own crew that'll beat yours-" That snapped all the pirates back into place. Some cocked eyebrows, while other smiled in challenge at the little boys vow. "- and find the worlds greatest treasure. No matter what, I will become the pirate king."

Shanks laughed, not mockingly, but surprised. " Oh? Your going to beat us? Going to beat me? Lucky! I want to give anchor his gift!" The large man cam forward with a chest in hand. It was small, probably not weighting much. The goggles wearing pirate handed it to Luffy, who had no trouble holding it with his above normal strength.

" Also. . ." Shanks took off his straw hat and placed it on the boys head who gaped at it and what it represented. " I'll let you take care of this hat. You know how important it is to me. Take good care of it."

The pirates went onto their boat, setting sail immediately. The villagers all stood at the edge of the docks waving at the pirates who did so back. Placing the chest down Luffy pushed past them and looked at the men who thought him everything. How to learn, read, write, fight, hope, and feel joy for the first time. They looked back at him as well.

" I'll see you at the top! MONKEY D. LUFFY!" Shanks shouted, his voice slightly cracked with sadness. Smiling brightly Luffy threw his head back, and screamed two words that would forever connect the two. Strengthening the bond that had long been forged. The words were scream to the point were his voice went out.

" GOODBYE, FATHER!"

When the villager where out of view, Benn lit himself another cigarette and turned to his captain and best friend. " There can't see us anymore captain. You can cry now." Benn soon regretted his words, twisting his face up, repulsed when his captain fell to his knee's and began sobbing loudly like a goddamn baby. " Jeez captain your that sad?"

" I-I-I'm n-not s-s-sad. . . I'm happy! Waah! He called me father, Benn!"

"Hey!" the first mate exclaimed when his captain wrapped himself around his leg. " Get the hell off me!"

But Shanks wasn't listening. " I'm going to miss that little asshole! Somebody get me some booze! I can't stop crying!"

" GET OFF ME!"

Back at the village, Luffy found a secluded place to open the chest. Inside was a violet, spherical shaped fruit with a stem sprouting out of the top, with swirls that go in a curly "S" like-pattern. Inside the chest was also a rather thing book bounded together by leather. With no title on the front or back, he checked the contents and saw each page held a picture of at least three to four other strange colored patterned fruits with descriptions next to them.

Realization hit Luffy like a falling tree. Looking at the fruit in his had, he recalled Benn's brief lessons on devil fruits. This was one! The book most have been some sort of guild on the mysterious sources of powers.

And Shanks gave this to him. So he could become even stronger. His child like excitement went away when he found the page the fruit was on and read about it." This could make me stronger?" If he ate the fruit, he would become a rubber man. The hell kind of advantage could he gain from that? For the next hour he read the book slowly, word for word, etching into his brain every page with his photographic memory. When he was done he placed the fruit and book back into the chest.

Maybe Shanks took drugs on the low? Had to be the case, because he couldn't see how the hell that was something worth giving up the ability to swim for. The only thing the Gomu Gomu no Mi was useful for was to negate the Goro Goro no Mi. Something the book didn't say, but using his advance knowledge of science he theorized that ability.

Maybe if he infused Haki into it? It would give him a range advancement. . . He didn't need. Remembering his sword skills. That was another con for the mental gomu gomu no mi pros and cons chart he had in his head. Maybe he could sell it? Shanks did say they went high in the black market.

_I can't do that. _Well technically he _could, _but Shanks did give it to him as a gift, and it along side that straw hat were his only mementos of the man he considered his father. So selling wasn't an option. Eating it and losing the ability to swim wasn't one either.

With no plan in mind, the young haki user buried the chest for safe keeping's.

Going to the bar he got his sword from Makino and went back to the forest for training. Just because they were gone, didn't mean he was letting their teachings go to waste. _Wait for me Shanks. We'll meet at the top._

**_Three Months later_**

" I still can't believe you got teachings from that red hair Shanks! What were you thinking?!" Luffy rolled his eyes at his grandfathers bantering as they hiked through the mountain. The Marine hero wore a expensive black suit with a white dress shirt underneath.

_I was thinking of protecting myself from pedophiles and the wild animals that attack me. _Luffy never told his grandpa about the times he was raped. He didn't need another person to know of his humiliation. The only ones who knew of this were Makino, Shanks, and the other pirates. Shanks had brutally slaughtered the bandits so there was no worry in that.

" Your reputation as a marine will be blemished if its discovered you learned from a pirate!"

" I never agreed to becoming a marine or a pirate gramps. I'm still deciding. Heck, I might not become either."

" If not neither, then what?"

" I'm only seven gramps, I have plenty of time to decide on a career."

" Look grandson. As proud I am to know your gifted with a big brain and all, a simple mundane career is a waste of your talents. Speaking of which, what exactly did red hair teach you anyways?" The marine looked at him from the corner of his eye suspiciously. Yeah, whatever with that. Luffy wasn't stupid enough to give away info of that much importance. Shanks taught him more than anyone would know.

" Who lives here?" Luffy slyly changed the subject when they arrived at a large wooden home that looked able to house a couple dozen people. With observation haki, he saw that there was in fact, a lot of people living inside.

Garp knocked on the door rather obnoxiously. Not that he seemed to give a shit about manners, nor has he ever from all the times Luffy's been with him. The door opened and a woman came out yelling.

" So annoying! Who's the reckless daredevil?!"

" It's me," Garp said in a calm dangerous voice. The woman went wide eyed and backed away from him.

" G-Garp-san!" Two men stuck their heads out from behind a purple curtain that was draped up to the door frame. They squealed in fear when they saw his grandfather. Luffy had to admit, they were quite the interesting bunch. The woman was tall on the overweight side. She had orange curly hair. Her face held masculine features to it. She wore a white collar shirt, a pink beaded necklace, chequered trousers held up with a large belt, and heeled boots. A cigarette at the side of her mouth smoke half way down.

Out of the two men, one was short and wore a turban. The other kind of reminded the boy of a chicken.

" You seem to be doing well."

" You gotta be kidding me! Seriously, I wish you'd just leave me alone for a change! That ace is already ten years old you know!" The woman complained while trying to keep a respectful tone. Dang, she must have been really afraid of the marine.

Ace? The old man had mentioned that name as they came up the mountain. He also mention it once or twice in the past whenever he went on a lecture about how Luffy would be a great marine.

" Is he? Has it really been that long? Hows he doing?" The old Marine laughed.

" It's nothing to laugh at!" The small turban man complained. " If he gets any more wild we won't be able to control him! Just take him with you!"

The mans complaints fell on uncaring ears, " Anyways. . ."

" Don't change the subject!"

The woman looked at Luffy with curiosity. " So who's the brat beside you?" Garp patted his grandson on the back.

" I need you to take care of him soon." The bandits looked at the old man like he grew a second head. Luffy wasn't surprised in the least. This was typical grandpa bullshit to him. " Now, come on, say hello Luffy. Say hello."

" Yo."

The chicken man was first to speak up. " Who's the kid?"

" He's my grandson."

" WHAT?!" all three shouted in unison.

" We've got to take care of _another_ one!"

" Garp's _grandson_?!"

" Not happening!" The three- once again in unison- said quickly. Garp crossed his arms, an evil glint in his eyes.

" Well you have to make a decision then. Spend you life behind bars, or raise him? I've turned a blind eye so far, but you've committed as many crimes as there are stars in the sky." He then processed to laugh in a humorless situation. Yawning in boredom, Luffy decided to leave the adults alone to their little squabble. He should find something to eat-

Cocking his head to the side on instinct, Luffy avoided a face to face with a huge wad of spit. Looking to the source of it, he saw a boy sitting on top of a dead buffalo. The boy had black hair, and a freckled face set into a stern frown. He wore a orange shirt with no sleeves and black shorts. He had a long pipe in hand that Luffy seen before, from that blonde boy he saved months back.

Luffy cocked an eyebrow. Not getting mad. " Are we going to have a problem?" The freckled face boy racked him with a glare, which seemed to only grow more intense as it saw the unimpressed look Luffy's were sending.

_Those eyes. . . _Black as night, just like his, just like grandpa's. Was the boy related to them somehow? Could he be a D as well? Shanks had told him the easiest ways to look for a member was that they all had black eyes no one else had.

" Oh! Ace!" Garp walk to the two boys ending their staring contest. " Luffy. That's Ace. He's three years older than you. Starting today, you'll be living with these people." The three from before began protesting.

" You just decided that by yourself?!"

The look in Ace's eye didn't diminished in the slightest. The freckled face boy still looked like he wanted to assault Luffy. _Bring it, _the straw hat wearing boy thought. While Shanks told him not to abuse his power, he didn't say shit about self defense. And Luffy had not problem putting another kid in his place.

Garp slid his hand under the straw hat and ruffled the boys red and black hair, " Try behaving grandson."

" You think this is settled?!" The woman shouted.

" What?!" Garp growled sending them a terrifying glare.

" We'll take care of him!" The three said in obedience simultaneously.

" Then my business here is done. I'll come to visit when I have time."

" Um. . .What about child support?" Asked chicken man.

" Put it on my tab," was Garp's reply.

Bored with them, Luffy went exploring around his new "home."Ignoring the other boys eyes that he felt on him. He checked out one room, that had a small makeshift stove in the middle of it with a big pot hanging above it.

_They can't be serious, _Luffy thought as he felt others hiding in the room with him. He didn't even have to use haki to know they were there. They tried to come at him from the back, but Luffy was faster. Whirling around quickly he punched the closes one in the gut with enough force to make him fall to his knees. The other two were shocked, leaving openings. With little effort he made short work of the three men and stood before their beaten forms.

" That's why it's not nice to mess with me." Now to deal with the others.

" What are you doing?!" Yelled turban guy, flipping the light switch on. Luffy merely shrugged.

" They tried to jump me. I was defending myself." The other bandits in the room backed away from the scary little boy. Turban guy looked at his comrades.

" You should know, the boys Garp's grandson and will be living with us." They all shouted in shock. Luffy was starting to find that annoying.

The orange haired woman came in carrying a few dozen bones of meat on a large plate. " Shut up you scumbags! Its time for dinner." The other bandits jumped at the pile of meat like rabid starved dogs. A few of them fought each other for the others piece. Unsure of his place, Luffy sat next to the woman who he guessed was most likely the leader.

" Well if your staying here you might as well understand the lay of the household. I'm Dadan the mountain bandit boss.-" She pointed to the turban guy, "- Dogra-" then the chicken guy, "-Magra." She named the other bandits, and their pet wolf. Ace had taken some meat and ate on the other side of the makeshift stove.

When she tried to give Luffy a small bowl of rice he declined, " No thank you ma'am." Dadan blushed a little despite herself. The brat was being to adorable.

" Starve if I care brat!" She ate the rice herself. When she was done, she broke down the rule of the house. " The life of a bandit is harsh. Starting tomorrow we'll work you half to death." She went into a list of chores he'd have to do, which were basically the same ones Shanks had him do, so it wouldn't be a problem. " All you get is one bowl of rice and one cup of water a day."

" What if I catch food for you guys? Do I still have to do the chores?" He really didn't have a problem with rice and water. Lucky Roo taught him to survive on much less.

Dadan took a moment to think about it. " No. If you bring us food, then your chore free, and you can eat more than just rice and water. But don't get cocky brat. The animal out here will rip you to shred's."

" Okay."

The bandit leader looked at him incredulously, her head hitting the floor. " You okay with that?! You should be crying!"

" Yeah. I lived in the jungle for most of my life, and had to hunt, gut, and cook my own food so its no problem." Getting up he headed for the door. " I don't like sleeping around other people so I'll see you tomorrow with the food I promised. Later Ms. Dadan!"

Ace watched the younger boy leave from the corner of his eye.

**AN: REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVOR.**


	5. Blonde and Freckles

**Chapter 5**

**Blonde and Freckles. **

Ace wasn't sure about what to make of the other boy.

Yesterday the man Ace called Grandpa had popped up unannounced as always. Only this time he brought along a straw hat wearing boy with weird hair and eyes the same color as theirs. He was caught off guard when the other boy had looked him in the eye and hadn't shown the slightest of fear or even nervousness. The hell?

It didn't make sense to the freckled face boy. All the other kids and most adults shrank back in fear whenever they saw him. Why hadn't Luffy?

Not that it mattered of course. Ace didn't give a shit what anyone thought of him. And that kid Luffy was just like the bandits. Someone he had to stomach living with until he and Sabo became old enough and had enough money to become pirates. Then, everyone and this damn island would be nothing but a distant memory.

Getting out of bed, he stretched like he did every morning. Picking up his pipe he got ready to hunt for breakfast. They had buffalo yesterday so maybe he should find a crocodile. Maybe bear? Ox?

Ace was pulled out from his thought's when he heard commotion outside._ It's to early for this crap_, he thought groggily. The freckled face boys eyes widened as he saw Luffy standing on the dead bodies of a large crocodile, bear, and an Ox. The bandits had their jaws on the ground. Dadan's cigarette fell out her mouth when she what the weird haired boy did.

Luffy looked at the bandits in boredom. " Food. Just like I promised Ms. Dadan."

" Incredible!"

" How?!"

" This kid is a monster!"

" A bear! He took down a bear by himself!"

" Forget the bear, look at the crocodile!"

" This could feed us through the whole day, let alone breakfast!"

" Good job brat!"

" Way to go Luffy!"

" He did way better than Ace!"

Said boys eye twitched in irritation. He raked the dead animals and boy with a look of annoyance and disgust. Whatever. He wasn't going to eat what _he_ caught? Ace would find his own damn breakfast. Later he'd get some more money then meet up with Sabo.

After about a month, Ace started to become curious. Within the time that past, the two boys hadn't spoken a word to each other. No problem for Ace. The weird haired boy needed to know his place in the house. And that place was to not be around Ace.

Ace would only see Luffy twice a day. When the younger boy brought breakfast and when he brought dinner. After that he just stayed to eat, which wasn't long. Luffy always ate very small portions of food. Which weirded Ace out even more than the hair. Seriously, who ate like that? Normally Ace ate five times a day, and the food weight about eight to ten pounds each meal.

The brat ate only half a cup of rice, a cup of water, and a slice of meat the size of his hand.

After eating, Luffy would always disappear for hours until night came around, and he was pulling the carcass of a animal he killed. They would eat that, then go somewhere no one knew about to sleep.

Dadan apparently didn't care, still pissed at Gramp's for leaving her another kid to watch. Ace still didn't understand his adopted grandfather for that. Why take the spoil brat and make him live with bandits? Why not just leave him with his parents?

Ace should have been paying more attention to his surroundings, or he would have noticed the huge bear that jumped at him from behind the bushes. Its steal like skull slamming into Ace's side propelling him into a tree. He gasped in pain as he felt one of his ribs break.

Not having anytime to lick his wounds, Ace jumped to his feet. Bad idea because the sharp pain made him want to dry heave to high hell. His eyes went to his pipe that fell out of his hands. " Shit." The bear was blocking it. Picking up a nearby rock he hurled it at the beast, hitting it's snout. The bear growled in anger and hurled itself at him.

Ace ducked, but one of the bears large forelegs hit the boys head, knocking him off his feet. Was it night time? Because Ace was sure as hell seeing stars.

And then he saw only black.

Luffy woke up from his mid morning nap when he heard a bone-shattering roar. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he jumped from the tree branch he took comfort on landing on the ground in a powerful crouch. With Soru, he ran in the direction of the noise.

" Well look at that," Luffy said to himself in slight amusement. A large black bear was standing over an unconscious Portgas D. Ace. His shirt was riding up, revealing a slight protrusion underneath the skin. A broken rib most likely, Luffy concluded. The bear had foam at the side of its mouth, a sign of rabies. It explained the madness in its eyes.

Teeth flashing, and claws exposed, it would have killed the older boy had Luffy not delivered the beast a flying round kick to the temple. The move dazed it long enough for Luffy to pick up Ace and move him away to safety behind a bush. He could have used Soru to run away, but Luffy was much o a gentle to not skip the first date.

Going back to the beast that gained back some sense they moved in on each other going into grisly combat.

The bears claws went in deep into Luffy's side. Welcoming the pain Luffy laughed. Wrapping a small arm around the large limb, he used his free arm to strike the bears leg, breaking it like nothing. Dropping it Luffy applied haki into his left hand, condensing it, making it thin and sharp like a blade. He sliced the bears throat open with a swift stroke.

The bear came to a halt. Its eye bulged. Its forelegs dropping by its sides. Then it fell to the ground all together. Shaking horribly for a few seconds- and died. In that moment the boy Luffy saved months ago came into view. He still wore the same blue clothing and black large top hat. Missing a tooth, and carrying a large pipe similar to Ace's.

He looked from the dead bear to Luffy. His eyes went wide when he saw the unconscious freckled face boy. " Ace!" He dropped to his knees by the black haired boy. He looked at Luffy, " What happened?!"

" He was attack by that bear over there. I killed it and saved him."

" So he's going to be okay?"

" He has a broken rib and probably a concussion. We need to get him to the bandits so they can help him." Instructing Sabo to carry Ace by the legs he carried him by the arms so as to not cause his broken rib to puncture anything if they did so any other way. When they got to Dadan, Magra took Ace inside to work on him. Luffy explained to the others what happened.

After he finished his story, Dadan looked at Sabo curiously. " And who the hell are you?"

" I'm Ace's friend. Sabo."

The orange haired woman actually looked down right shocked at that declaration. " Ace? Friends? Well. . . I'll be damned." The other bandits felt the same way to. Exchanging whispers amount each other.

They waited for Magra to be done with fixing up Ace. Sabo had sat by a tree, his eyes glued to the door the chicken man had taken his best friend through. Luffy watched the other boy from where he stood. Studying every feature of Sabo. The boy was different physically from the other people Luffy had seen. The blue eyes for one thing. The clothing that- while worn out- didn't look they were sold cheap.

And the way he walked. Confident with an air of sophistication and high class didn't seem as up the average norm for children. Was he some kind of noble? But that didn't add up to the young haki user. On two occasions now he met Sabo in the forest, and from what Luffy knew, no noble family- or any normal ones for that matter- would let there kids go alone into the deadly woods.

Sabo held onto his pipe with both hands. His knuckles turning white when he squeezed the bar." If he dies. . ." The blondes face held fright. Luffy thought the other boy was talking to him, but realized by the distance in those blue orbs that Sabo spoke out loud unintentionally.

_Shit. _This is what Luffy hated about social interactions. He wasn't sure how to handle situations like this. So what he did was think of what Shanks would do in this situation.

Luffy sat next to the blonde boy, " You really care about him don't you?"

" Of course I do. Ace. . . He's my only friend. The only one who cares about me."

" You live in the forest don't you?"

Sabo nodded. " For five years now. Around gray terminal. At first it was hell. Getting use to the animals and the constant danger. But Ace showed me that I could survive if I truly wanted to. And I di-do. I do." Sabo looked at Luffy. Amusement replacing some of the grief. " You know he talks about you sometimes. Luffy right?"

The blue eyed boy held out a hand to him. Something only Shanks ever did. Luffy took it respectable. " So what did freckles say about me?"

Sabo laughed at the nickname. " Basically said his grandpa dropped off some annoying spoiled brat with weird hair, that disappeared like a ninja through all hours of the day. He also said you were creepy as all hell."

Sabo waited for the other boy to get upset or at least insult Ace back , but he only stared straight ahead into the forest. Either he didn't hear the insult, or just didn't care. His black eyes uncaring. They were like Ace's. Unusual, yet unique. Heavily guarded like a prison. They seemed very familiar-

" It's you!" Sabo exclaimed, jumping to his feet. " Your the kid who saved me from the wolves!"

Luffy narrowed his eyes at the blonde. " Do you really have to yell?"

" Oh. . .Sorry. . . But man you look different."

The kid changed his hair color, and gotten taller. He was an inch away from being Ace's height, his straw hat would make him seem taller. His skin was also a bit more darker than before.

" So your living with bandits now huh?"

" My marine hero grandfather thought it would be a good way of punishing me."

" I did hear from Ace how sadistic that guy can be."

_Smart as well, _Luffy noted. Because seriously, what kids use words like sadistic and actually know the text book definition. But Luffy wasn't going to pry. Not his thing. Magra came out whipping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

The chicken man smiled, " Ace will be fine-" That was all Sabo needed before running past the man to see his best friend. Luffy shrugged and followed. Though he wasn't sure why. He wasn't worried for the other boy, or particularly cared for him. Yet he went to see him anyway.

Ace had bandages wrapped around his midsection and head. By where he slept was a bloody scalpel and other medical tools as well as a bowl of steaming water that had been used to disinfect said tools. Magra had followed procedures even Jacob would be proud of.

The peaceful look on Ace's face finally made the blonde ease. " Thank you for saving him."

Luffy just shrugged nonchalantly. " No problem." Feeling somewhat out of place, Luffy left the blonde to watch over his friend.

**AN: Hello good people of fanfiction. Sorry it has been a while since updating, but i have school and papers are bitches, not to mention I'm learning TWO languages which eat up an asshole of a lot of time. with that, i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, sorry it didn't go far.**

**I know most of you guys are waiting for Luffy to demonstrate some demigod abilities, but first I'm going to need you guys to wait, i garinty it's coming SOON. Maybe in like two or three chapters. And if your wondering why i didn't get luffy to eat the devil fruit. . . Well trust me, there will be a big twist as to why i haven't allowed him to eat it. ****Before i go. **

**REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVOR. Also, tell me of any spelling or grammar mistakes. Arrivederci!**


	6. Maybe we're not so different

**Chapter 6**

**Maybe we're not so different  
**

Sabo groaned.

" Come on Ace. At least consider it."

Sabo was met with the same answer he was given all morning. Silence. After two weeks of staying in bed healing, Ace was quick to go out and work his little muscles. Still ticked off from getting his ass handed to him in the first place, the freckled face boy went on a bear hunting spree. His kill count was at about twelve bears.

But what Ace want to hit over the head in a death blow, was something much smaller then a bear. For the three days, Sabo tried to convince his friend to thank Luffy for saving his life. Ace said to hell with that. The day that happened, he'd eat crocodile shit.

Sabo was living with them now. Not that it was planned, the blonde had been spending day and night with Ace as he recovered. Going out to hunt for food when the two were hungry. Ace made sure the blonde was the one to get the food. No way he was eating anything the spoiled brat had caught. He'd starve first before that happened.

An unspoken agreement between Dadan and Sabo set the terms, and the blonde would contribute into the lessening of chores and catching of food for the bandits. In that time, Sabo would get to know the red and black haired boy. And quite frankly, Sabo liked him. While Sabo was knowledgeable from all the text book learning from his old tutors, Luffy was intelligent. The first person Sabo ever called that word.

Those cold black eye, always calculating, analyzing, and planning. While intimidating in every sense of the word, were also warming in a way. Luffy didn't judge, didn't mock him, he bandits, or Ace- who Sabo believed was being a huge asshole.

There conversations were pass timers, nothing deep, little topics to start things off. The weather, meals, each others clothes. Luffy asked about his eyes, which was a given. Sabo knew almost no one had blue eyes, and absolutely nobody in the kingdom had blue eyes his shade.

Another thing Sabo liked about Luffy, was that the boy never pried into things. Knowing where boundaries were set up. Ace would like him to, if the stubborn idiot would give the younger boy a chance.

The two returned to the bandit house after Ace killed yet another bear. The two brought the corpse with them and gave it to the bandits who went to work on it quickly. Stripping quickly the two boys went to take a bath. Sabo sighed in relief as he dipped into the steamy warm water. Lets the tides of relaxation take him into nirvana. He ignored the random party the bandits started throwing a few minutes ago. No doubt they were drunk already.

After ten minutes of silence on both boys parts, Sabo decided to bring up the topic his friend despised. " . . .I'm just saying Ace-"

" Oh for the love of-"

"- He did save your life after all."

" Not like i asked him to." Ace argued.

" But he did regardless. I still don't understand how you hate him, you haven't even spoken with the kid."

" And i ain't going to," he said matter-of-factly.

" Not everyone is out to get you Ace," Sabo said sadly. Ace snorted at that, but Sabo continued. " We became friends. You let your guard down enough to trust me. Do you regret that?"

" Oh come on Sabo, that was different. You were different."

" And you found out i was different when you what? When you first talked to me correct?"

Ace splashed water at him, " I still won't do it." He climbed out the large barrel they used as a bath tub and wrapped a towel around himself. Shaking his head in disappointment, Sabo followed after his friend. When the two were dressed, they headed for the bedroom.

" I'm sick and tired of that Luffy brat too!" Sabo stopped as they past the bandits little party. Ace stopped when Sabo did. He looked at the blonde in question when he saw his best friend listening in on the bandits. He was about to urge the boy forward when Dadan spoke again. " We'd be better off if the boy died someplace. We'd tell Garp it was an accident!"

" I actually like the boy," said Magra downing his fill of alcohol. Dadan laughed out loud, her eyes grim, even when misty with booze.

" That boy is trouble. You thought Ace was trouble? Please! You don't know who that boy belongs to. You don't know who's seed he's of. Garp would kill me if i told any of you, but i will say this. The old saying goes, ' a devil's child has a devil's luck.' Just like Ace he_ is_ the child of a devil too."

Ace eyes widened upon hearing this. Dadan took another gulp of her drink and went back on her tirade. " Just think about if the government found out about Garp's brat! What do you think would happened to us? The boy is better off dead. I'm just saying. . ." A far way look passed over the bandits boss face. One Ace hadn't seen before. " If the world knew who Luffy was. . . He would be hated by everyone." The woman passed out falling a sleep with her drink cradled next to her side.

The others continued the party without their leader. Sharing jokes, insults, and laughs.

Only Ace and Sabo were not taking part in that. The blonde was left lost for words at what he heard. Looking to his friend, he saw what was probably a reflect of his own facial expression. Ace stared at the floor, no longer in that house, but in the past. Hearing the voices of the people who demonized his existence.

_" If Gold Roger had a kid? He'd be beheaded, no doubt about it!"_

_" His last words should be something like this: 'I'm sorry I was born! I'm just garbage!'" Roars of laughter filled the bar after the owner said that. _

_" A child like that should be killed."_

_" He'd be a monster just like his father!"_

_"Mistake!"_

_"Freak!"_

_"Devil child!"_

" Ace?" Sabo's concerned voice brought him back to reality. The voices becoming faded echo's losing rebound in his skull. Without a word he turned around and left the house. Sleep no long of interest to him. Sabo chased after him.

" Ace! The heck are you going?"

The black eye'd boy broke off into a run. Sabo groaned in annoyance, setting his hat down my the front door and went after his pain in the ass friend. Running around the forest like a headless chicken made Sabo feel like a jackass. Every now and then Ace would stop running. Looking around and listening carefully. Stern frown and a look of agitated concentration set on his face. The same expression he wore when they went hunting.

Only instead of hunting, Ace was searching.

A thought formed in Sabo's head. An idea of what his friend was searching for flickered on in his head like a light bulb. Sabo smiled, but kept to himself, else Ace got second thoughts on this whole stroll through the forest.

The search came to its climax when the wonderful smell of cooked pork filled both boys nostrils. Running in the direction of scent trail, they reach a small clearing. Luffy sat against a fallen tree tending to a spite roasting pig and turkey. Sabo noted the younger boy didn't have his straw hat with him.

Luffy glanced up at the two, not in the least surprised and cared much for their sudden appearance. Almost as if he knew they were looking for him, Sabo thought. Ace walked up to the other boy. The two separated by the fire and cooking meat. Sabo moved to the side to watch both of them, mostly Ace. The fire reflected in both their strange black eyes. Sparks dancing off. Like fireflies in the night sky.

" Who are your parents?" Asked Ace. Sabo gawked at the blunt question. He glared at the freckled boy, but Luffy spoke, stopping him.

" Don't know," he shrugged. " It's always just been me and gramps. Never found out about my father or mother. Don't care."

Ace blinked and shared a look with Sabo. Unsure of what to make about the last bit. " You don't care? Your not even curious as to who they are?"

" Nope. I've been looking out for myself for so long, I don't need anyone else for that. Especially not a mother or father."

Ace's eyes narrowed. " And what if your father was a bad person?!" He snapped. Sabo moved to comfort his friends, but thought better of it. Ace was using his own self as an example. " What if your parents giving birth to you was a bad thing?! You were hated, all because of who your father was?! What then?!"

Luffy picked up a nearby stick, adding it on to the fire his spun the meat to cut on another side before answering. " And so what?" In the longest time Sabo knew Ace, this was the first time he ever saw his best friend at a lost for words. Even Sabo, from his personal problems was left impacted by those three words.

" We are brought into this world, never given the opinion to exist or not. As babies are odds off living and dying are fifty fifty. But as we grow, as we learn to stand, to talk, to fight, we are then given the opinion to survive. We can live or we can die, but at some point we all die because we are human and life sucks. Things happen because they just do. We can't always choose what will happen to us, and we cant pick our genetic donors.

"But just because we share a little blood with them. Doesn't mean we are _them_."

Ace fell down on his backside. The words of the younger boy knocking the air out of him. Words Ace had never heard from anyone. The sound of forest animals and he crackling of the fire being the only sounds in the clearing. Sabo went to Ace, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Luffy's eyes held the same uncaring coldness in them.

Without thinking, Ace spoke. " And if Gold Rogers had a kid?" Why the hell did he ask that?! But it was too late, It was out there.

" You mean the pirate king?" No use going back now. Ace nodded. Luffy thought about it. " Allot of people don't say good things about the dead guy. I'm sure they would probably say the same thing about his kid." Ace hands turned into first. His hair fell down hiding his eyes. " But if i was him, i still wouldn't care. Gold Rogers could go eat a dick."

Sabo's eyes bulged comically out of his head and his jaw hung loose. Ace looked up in surprise. Did he hear that right?

_Such language!_ Thought Sabo. Luffy just insulted Ace's dead father whom he hated. The blonde didn't know how his friend was going to react. Would he attack the younger boy like he did those towns people? Or-

Ace burst out laughing. A genius flurry of joyfully amused sound escaping his mouth. Okay. . . Sabo was so lost right now. But Ace just kept laughing, going far as to clutch his own stomach and slap the ground. Sabo even saw tears falling out of his eyes. He never saw Ace laugh so hard. It was like seeing a unicorn or something! After five minutes, he stood up. Dusting the grass and dirt of his pants, he held out a hand to Luffy.

" Portgas D. Ace."

Luffy studied the hand, but took it in the end. " Monkey D. Luffy." He pointed to the cooking meat and looked at both older boys. " Want any?"

Ace answered for the both of them.

" Damn straight."

**AN: Hello good people of fanfiction. Sorry it has been a while since updating, but i have crap to do. Yeah, i know it's not fair to make you guys wait, my bad. I'm learning languages and trying to finish highschool with decent time. with that, i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**

**REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVOR. Also, tell me of any spelling or grammar mistakes. Arrivederci! Have a nice day.**


	7. Set Backs

**Chapter 7**

**Set Backs**

A Big fish in a little pond needs to be placed in a larger body of water.

Well it was time for Luffy to leave this pond known as Goa.

The forest consisted of many varieties of trees, eye of there own in strength, durability, color, and smell. After an hour of hiking through the woods, Luffy found a cluster of great oaks. The wood was durable, tough, and attractively grained. With a hatchet Luffy borrowed from Makino, the boy went to work cutting large pieces of bark off the trees, collecting them into a large sack.

When he felt he met his required fill, he brought the bag of wood to a small nearby circular pond. The bark was cut down into even strips then left to soak in the pond for several days. In that time Luffy gathered various supplies such as certain types of nuts and berries that could not spoil with age, using dead animal skins and bones to make primitive containers to hold water. Flint stones and water rocks were next to be collected.

When he was not collecting he dived into his newest form of training. Running up and down the mountains, performing dozens of pull ups off trees, push-ups, and going into a form of sport done in a large country in the new world called parkour.

To parkour is to be able to control your body and mind into one being, so that you can find a path quickly, and move your body in a way that the path can be followed into the next path you're given. Luffy remembered it from one of Benn's lectures, but the pirate had never thought Luffy it. But that didn't mean he didn't get the gist of it. The trick of parkour is to use as little wasted movement while going past an obstacle.

While he didn't have a city, he used the forest as his industrial civilization. Luffy did consider using the Goa kingdom for parkour, but that would be breaking Benn's rule of ' keeping out of the spot light.' And city police wouldn't enjoy a kid jumping over shit, disturbing the peace and all.

After the oak bark was retted, the fibers separate from the outer bark into ribbons. He took a bundle of fiber and twist it until it kinks up with a loop in it. The one bundle of fiber looked like two bundles of fiber connected by a kinked loop. Hold the loop and continue to twist one fiber bundle individually, in the same direction it was going when it kinked. Been's words were his instruction manual, playing like a tape recorder. He took his time with the process. Quality comes first before time.

He wrap the other bundles around the first bundle and twist the new one in the same direction. He repeated this process for two hours. After he was done he brought the newly made rope back to the bandit house to dry in the front lawn.

Ace and Sabo were in the middle of one of their daily spars. The two stopped when they spotted the red and black haired boy lugging at least a barrels fill of rope.

" Hey Lu, where you get the rope?" Asked the blonde.

" I made it." The young haki user tied the rope around the nearest tree to let it dry. Ace took off his shirt and used it as a towel, cleaning off the sweat from his forehead.

" Is that what you've been doing these last few days? Why?"

" I'm going to make a raft." Luffy shouted as he went into the bath house. The two other boys looked at each other to see if they heard that right. They ran after the younger boy, kicking the bath house door open.

"What!" They shouted in unison. Luffy took off his shirt and lit a small fire under the metal barrel to heat up the water.

" I'm going to leave the island soon for a little while. I want to see whats outside of this place."

" You can't leave in a raft!" Yelled Sabo, questioning the younger boys sanity.

" Yeah, you need a ship!" Ace agreed.

" It's dangerous!"

" Or you on drugs?"

" Do you even know how to navigate? Do you even know where you want to go!?"

Luffy yawned. A tick formed in Sabo's jaw at the younger boys constant nonchalant attitude. Luffy was crazy for thinking of going out to sea on a simple raft. Wait, he can make a raft? But that wasn't important at the moment. "What about money?"

" Don't need."

Sabo frowned. " You don't need money? What about food?"

" I'll find some."

" You mean steal some."

" I'm not you two."

Ace cut it on the back and forth. " If that's the case we're coming with you," he crossed his arms to show how serious he was. Luffy shook his head. He wanted to do this alone. Bringing others might prove to be bothersome and down right annoying. Plus he only knew the two older boys for about two weeks now. He didn't trust either of them.

Luffy was still unsure of what he ultimately thought of the two. Ace was too impulsive, and thickheaded. Quick to get into a fight with anyone for trivial small things. Overall he was immature. A constant time bomb waiting for anything to set him off.

Sabo was a little more clear headed the freckled boy. He knew how to keep a cap on himself, and was aware of himself. The blonde was resourceful, well mannered at times, but was secretive and had an irritating habit of pestering. With sarcasm as sharp as knives. It was a wonder how he hadn't killed the blue eyed boy yet.

Having the two accompany him, most like would lead to set backs and problematic confrontations. And it was bad enough he had his birth mark as a potential slow down.

" No your not. And that's the end of that." Extinguishing the fire, he jumped into the bath. Sabo thought briefly about holding the younger boys head under water for a long period of time.

" Forget this, I'm too hungry." Him and Ace went out to find lunch. Luffy leaned against the side of the barrel looking up at the ceiling. The accumulated steam moving about slowly like clouds gave the bath house an out of focus illusionary portrayal.

It would soon be his time. The world would know of him soon.

Training, hunting, planning, preparing, sleeping. The in workings of his daily schedules. In the course of a week, Luffy built the raft from oak wood and the dozen of feet in length rope he fashioned. It was a large raft, but it did the job and met the requirements Luffy wanted. Nine feet long and seven feet wide. Room for him to sleep horizontal, his sword, and the sacks of food he had hidden in a remote cave.

In four days he would sail east until he reached the island of Prong. All his training had led him to this moment. He was ready.

When the day did finally come the preparation were set. Everything was in order. Luffy stood on one of the east beaches of Goa. His raft waiting on the damp sand, the ocean sweeping against its bottom beckoning it to sail. Luffy had informed Makino and the Mayor of his journey, they wished him the best of luck and to see them when he returned.

He didn't bother with informing the bandits. Sabo would most likely do it for him. Dadan was bound to notice his absence. Of not, then he didn't care. Luffy had to make sure he returned within a time of six to eight months, before his grandfather visited. If the old war hero discovered he had gone to sea, he would look for him. Luffy moved to push his raft into the water-

Suddenly he picked up on something. The young haki user felt violence and killing intent in the air. An ability he some how picked up weeks back. With observation haki he scanned the lands. He picked up on a fight happening four miles west at gray terminal. A group of people, two of them he recognized as Ace and Sabo. The two were fight against multiple enemies, and from the feel of it weren't winning.

Luffy looked back at the raft. He should go. . .Right now. . .

The faces of the two older boys flashed in his mind. For a moment he considered going to help them. But why? They were unimportant to him, so why should he care if they died? Besides, less noise if the two were gone. Not to mention he was burning up day light think of this shit when he could be at sea.

Luffy's scar began tingling. _Great, fucking great._ The damn thing was going to go off soon and he would be kissing floor. It was really time to _go. _But damn it all Shank's teaching reared their ugly heads, and they won him over. Grabbing his sword out of the raft he used Soru to get to where the boys were.

Ace was held by two men when Luffy showed up. Sabo was held by a gas mask wearing Goa soldier. Luffy hid behind a pile of garbage, peering out to assess the situation. A tall man in a blue captain's jacket stood laughing mockingly. Luffy recognized him a Bluejam. A known pirate captain in these parts he did digging on when he first came to live in the mountains.

Standing in front of the Goa soldiers was a black haired man with a thin black mustache, he wore a top hat with feathers, a suit with a flower on each lapel, with the one on the left having feathers similar to the ones seen on his hat. From the stance, clothes, and grooming of his mustache, Luffy deduced he was a noble.

But why would a noble be in the gray terminal? Unless he was looking for something. And he had pirates- who he most likely paid to be with him- and soldiers. _And they went against Sabo and Ace, _Luffy thought_. _Two theories came to mined. Either the two older boys picked a fight with them, or they were who the noble was searching for.

But why. . . Ace probably because he was known for attacking people in the past. But that could have been a task given to the police. No, soldiers and pirates were used because the matter was way more important. Luffy's eyes went to Sabo who was struggling to escape the soldiers hold. The soldier was being less rough with Sabo then they were with Ace.

And then Luffy understood. They were after Sabo. The noble man wanted the blonde.

Sabo looked at the man in resentment and loathing. And then it really clicked to Luffy. Sabo was related to the noble. It explained why Sabo's torn dirty blue suit and hat looked expensive if they were in better condition. How Sabo was so knowledgeable, well mannered, and at times spoke with a refined tongue.

Sabo was a noble.

Luffy's birth mark tingled again. He mental cursed. Using Soru had just sped the mark up. In just a short while he would be left immobile. If he used conquers haki then his birth mark would activate on the spot, and he would be able to knock out only three of them. Fighting wouldn't do anything good.

His mind went working for a plan of action. Time was not a ally he had now so he'd have to wing it and make shit up on the spot.

" What do you understand Sabo?" The noble man asked, seriously.

Sabo face twisted into a look of disgust, as if he ate shit. " I'll do whatever you ask of me, father. I'll live just as you tell me to, so. . .Don't hurt Ace. That's all i ask."

" Sabo. . ." Ace breathed in disbelief.

" How about we make a trade." All heads turned in the same direction. Luffy stood up from behind the garbage, making himself known. The soldiers took out and pointed there guns at him. Luffy held his hands up in surrender. " Easy. I'm only here to do business with the noble." Ace and Sabo looked at him, flabbergasted.

The man looked at Luffy in suspicious and interest. " A trade? What does a grey terminal trash have to trade? And what for exactly?"

_Forgive me Shanks. _" You leave Sabo with us." The man laughed.

" Fool! As if i would give my son to you and that!" He pointed at Ace who struggled even more to get free. " What would you possibly trade!?"

" How about a devil fruit?" Everyone went wide eyed.

" You lie," accused Sabo's father.

" How can a kid have a devil fruit?" Laughed Bluejam, " They don't even exist. They're just legend."

" You would be wrong captain," Luffy informed. " I do in fact have one of those rare treasures, and it can be yours Sir. Think about it. A noble man with a devil fruit as a trophy? All of East blue will know your name! Even the world nobles would commended you."

When Luffy saw a spark of excitement and contemplation in the mans eyes, he knew he had him.

" Luffy what are you do-!" Sabo had shouted out, but a look from his father and the soldier holding him covered Sabo's mouth.

" Take me to the fruit boy, and you have a deal."

Luffy nodded and led the way. Thank the Gods he buried the chest close by outside of grey terminal. When they reached the small clearing, Luffy dug the chest up. He tossed the Gum Gum no Mi to Sabo's father. The man looked down in awe.

" A devil fruit. . .Incredible."

The pirates had a similar expression on their faces. While they were preoccupied, Luffy moved towards Bluejam. He tugged on the mans side getting his attention. " Kill him Bluejam, and the power is your's." The pirate looked at the fruit and smiled evilly. Bluejam whipped out his gun and shot Sabo's father in the side. The man cried out in pain and then all hell broke loose. Pirates and Soldiers took out their guns and started opening fire on each other.

Acting quickly Luffy used Soru to get to the older boys and got them out of the clearing. Luffy did not stop running until they were back at Dadan's. The birth mark kicked in Making his legs buck as he was running and tripped. His hold on the two went, the agony taking over his nervous system. Luffy landed on something hard head first, and blacked out.

**AN: Hey guy hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now let me address this, i know Sabo's father didn't find out about them for a few more month's in the anime, but i wanted to change up times a little, it would help with the story, and i didn't want Garp meeting Sabo just yet. And you see, this Luffy is a cunning little bastard. If you thought this chapter was crazy you haven't seen nothing yet. Next Chapter you are going to see why Luffy isn't so human in this story.**

**But you will have to wait. **

**REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVOR. Also, tell me of any spelling or grammar mistakes. Arrivederci. Have a nice day.**


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